Courage
by Power9987
Summary: Rewrite of "Legacy Through Courage" told in a whole new way. Something happened when Gohan was forced to release his hidden powers the day of the Cell games, and he never was the same again. Read as Gohan finds the courage from others and from within himself to deal with these struggles.
1. Potential

**A/N: Hello all! I'm back!**

 **I realize that I haven't been on this scene for quite a while. There are a few rather simple explanations for this, but I will not bore you with the details. If you REALLY want to know, I recently updated my profile with these details. Just know that I am now back on the DBZ scene and will be taking up the rewrite of this story as my main project for the indefinite future.**

 **This is my attempt at trying a new writing style that I believe will give a much more in depth insight into the telling of my original plot. It is different enough from "Gohan's Legacy: Legacy Through Courage" that past readers of that story should still be able to get some value from reading this rewrite. Please let me know how I'm doing as this is my first crack at this rather new writing style.**

 **As of right now, I've only completed this prologue and the first two chapters of this rewrite. The reason I am posting this now is to gauge interest in the story as well as obtain any comments that can help me improve. I will try to update as frequently as I can, but writing will most likely be slow for the time being due to my current life situation.**

 **So without further adue, here is the prologue! Enjoy!**

"Dialogue"

 _Thoughts/Mindscape_

 _"Telepathic communication"_

~Change in setting~

*Actions*

 **Flashback/Dream sequence**

* * *

Prologue: Potential

~Spinach Wastes, 503 West Farming District; October 12th, Age 761~

Anger.

Frustration.

Rage.

Fury!

These are the emotions that he focuses on, the emotions that fuel his drive. Sweat drips down his hairless brow as he focuses all of his ki into one point. He is preparing himself to use his brand new technique, the Special Beam Cannon. This is the technique he specifically created as a sure way to kill that son of a bitch Goku, his mortal enemy. Much to his frustration though, he's not using it for that purpose. No.

Instead he has to use it to kill off this freakishly strong alien.

This man that he's up against, Raditz as he introduced himself, claimed himself to be part of this 'almighty superior race' as he called it. What was it he said it was called again?

The saiyans.

Ah yes, that's what he called them. He claimed he was part of an almighty race called the saiyans. Not only that, but Raditz claimed Goku to be his brother, making his most hated mortal enemy one of these ridiculously strong aliens too.

Those words, while arrogant, might have more behind them than he would care to admit though. This freak is actually proving to be a rather potent threat. While he wouldn't go as far to say that this guy is almighty, Raditz is indeed much stronger than he thought he would be. He loathes to admit it, but if he had not enlisted his mortal enemy's help in this fight, he would have easily been killed by this bastard. The alien invader bests both him and Goku in ki (by a significant amount he admits grudgingly), and as he proved earlier, the freak is very skilled in fighting. He definitely wouldn't say Raditz' fighting technique is that great, but this saiyan's instincts really make up for his lack of form. After all, instinct was what allowed the freak to dodge his Special Beam Cannon the first time he used it.

He still can't get over how the bastard managed to do that.

And now that moron Goku has just pointed out that when he still had his tail, that it hurt like hell when it was squeezed. In fact, it hurt so much so that he became completely powerless. Piccolo had to roll his eyes and snarl at his extremely tentative ally when he mentioned that. That was definitely some information they could have used earlier this battle. They both have been fighting–or rather getting pounded by this saiyan for the past half hour, and his half-witted temporary sidekick had waited until now to mention such a gigantic vulnerability? Talk about a dim-witted buffoon!

Still, after his ultimate technique failed the first time, they both decided that the best strategy would be to go for this alien man's tail to hold him still while Piccolo charged his Special Beam Cannon a second time.

 _We're lucky that this guy seems to be as stupid as his brother,_ he muses, smirking at that thought. Raditz' arrogance ended up being his downfall. Through some miracle, his pathetic excuse for a rival managed to grab his numskull alien brother's tail. Its even more satisfying since the idiot invader was lazily fighting him, thinking nothing Goku could do would be able to hurt him.

Hmph. How wrong he was. Now he sees the same saiyan that caused him and Goku so much trouble is lying flat on his stomach, powerless to do anything.

 _Almighty my ass,_ he sneers silently. _That is an enormous weakness for a race that calls themselves 'almighty.'_ He shakes himself out of his thoughts and focuses back on his task. _Common Piccolo! Concentrate! I'm almost there… just one more minute and this guy is toast. Just think, once this nuisance is finished off, I can focus back on killing Goku and taking over this pathetic planet._

"Kakarot please! Let me go!" The saiyan screams at the top of his lungs. What is the freak doing? Begging for his insignificant life? Pathetic. "Please… have mercy!"

 _Nice try_. He chuckles in his head. He finds it amusing how someone who was so intimidating and arrogant before turns into a coward the instant he's on the wrong end of a situation. Even Goku's not stupid enough to fall for that…

Or is he?

His eyes widen as he sees a contemplative look cross his idiotic, soft-hearted rival's face, as if actually considering what his supposed brother is saying. Much to his continued disbelief, he even sees his temporary ally start to loosen his grip on the tail just the tiniest bit.

Piccolo growls in frustration. Fed up with his idiot of an ally's forgiving nature, he tries to talk some sense into the fool. "Goku don't listen to him!" he shouts. "He's only saying that to get to you let go!"

And to think that this moron is his main opposition to world domination.

Again, pathetic.

"Do you promise to leave and never come back if I were to let you go?" Piccolo's eyes bug out as his rival's response hits his sensitive ears. Goku can't be serious can he? Is that lowlife seriously considering letting this monster go?

"Yes! Yes Kakarot! I swear I will leave and never come back! I only came to see if you wanted to help us, but I can see that you like life on this planet and won't join. That's all I wanted I swear!"

That bastard's ridiculous pleading is seriously getting on his nerves, but the fact that Goku seems to be falling for it makes him even more angry. Much to his continued astonishment, his hated rival starts to loosen his grip on their common enemy's tail even more.

"Goku you moron!" He yells furiously. No! This isn't supposed to happen! He can already predict what the alien is going to do. As soon as he gets control of his body again the monster is going to turn on his brother right away and most likely kill him. As much as the thought of Goku dead pleases him, it's _his_ job to kill the buffoon, not this overpowered idiotic monster of an alien.

Screw this! He's not going to let this saiyan get away with this even if his rival will. _I have no choice but to use my attack now. I just hope it's strong enough to kill this guy._ As soon as Goku lets go of his supposed brother's tail completely, Piccolo thrusts his arm forwards, pointing directly at the freak, who is now just starting to get up.

"Special Beam Cannon!" He shouts.

A thin, purple beam shoots out of his fingers, two yellow beams spiraling around it in a corkscrew fashion. It may not look like much, but this attack has tons of penetrating power. The attack is so fast that he can't see if he even hit his target before an explosion sounds off and the area is filled with dust. However, he is able to hear the distinct sound of a body hitting the ground and he starts laughing maniacally.

 _I did it! I killed that freak!_ No thanks to Goku, but still it worked out _._ He smirks, but it only lasts for a moment before he hears screaming.

And not screaming from his target.

Piccolo can only gape as the dust clears to reveal Raditz, undamaged, with his foot on top of Goku's chest. The saiyan laughs evilly as he stomps his foot down on his brother's chest hard, a sickening snap echoing through the area as he breaks the man's sternum, creating a fatal injury that will kill Goku within minutes if left untreated.

The man continues to laugh stupidly as Piccolo looks on at the freak, mouth on the ground. He can't believe it! How did that bastard dodge his attack again? He timed it perfectly! His aim was flawless! There's no way that bastard could've–

 _What the hell?_

His eyes widen even more as they suddenly dart around the area, jolted out of his seething by sensing a ki very close by, a ki so incredibly strong that he it makes him feel fear for the first time in his reincarnated life.

Now who the hell could _that_ be!?

This power makes that freak of a saiyan's seem like nothing! Trying to calm his nerves a little, he gulps to clear his dry throat before he focuses on the power. This power leads him to the direction of the saiyan's space pod. For a moment Piccolo forgets his fear as confusion takes over. However, a memory of what the freak said when both he and Goku first got here comes to the front of his mind, and he realizes that there is only one person over in that direction.

 _No way…_

He quickly darts his gaze over to the saiyan they've been fighting this whole time and sees that he is looking in the same direction as his dumb pod as well. Piccolo can also hear the faint beeping noise of that device on that freak's face and see the look of pure astonishment.

Needless to say, his ki senses have been confirmed.

There's just no way though! The only person over there is Goku's whiny brat of a son who is trapped in that space pod. It couldn't be him; that ki is almost double that of this saiyan that he and his rival have been fighting! But it has to be since he's the only one there.

"What is going on here?!" Raditz shouts, clearly enraged. The bastard slams his foot down on Goku's chest in frustration. This causes the broken doofus to scream out in pain again as his sternum suffers even more damage, but neither he nor Piccolo are focused on that at the moment. "Dammit! This scouter must be broken!" the freak shouts again. "There's no way that Kakarot's pathetic son could have a power level of 2000! Not even Prince Vegeta had that high of a power level at his age!"

However, Piccolo knows what he's saying is truth. His ki senses don't lie.

His superior hearing picks up the faint sound of cracking before an explosion wracks the area, creating a local earthquake with its potency. All he can see are thousands of computer parts and metal pieces scattering all over the place before he looks into the sky.

 _No way_ … Is what he's seeing true?

Up in the sky, about 50 feet over the crater, is Goku's son, glaring hotly at his 'uncle.' The kid does a quick front flip before landing on his feet right in front of the crater. Piccolo seriously can't believe his eyes. That kid is radiating pure power like none he's ever felt before! It is truly an amazing sight that leaves him speechless. He would be sneering at the brat for the obvious tears in his eyes had the kid not been radiating a ki that could wipe him out in a blink of an eye.

 _I'm just glad that I'm not his target at the moment._

The kid growls at his newly found out uncle and said uncle backs up hesitantly, moving away from his brother. Piccolo scoffs. Is that freak really afraid of a little boy? Never mind that he's weary of the kid himself. It is Goku's kid after all, who is the biggest pain in the ass that there is. Much to his continued shock, he can see a blue aura start to form around the whiney brat.

"Leave my daddy alone!" the kid shouts furiously, and in an instant launches himself at his 'uncle.' Piccolo can only hear the sickening tearing of flesh and the sound of a two bodies dropping to the ground before his eyes are able to catch up to the action.

And what he sees sends him reeling.

That kid, that whiney, crybaby of a brat, is lying face down on the ground, breathing heavily but that isn't the shocking part. No. The shocking part is that Raditz, the same freak that the combined effort of himself and Goku couldn't even match up against, is lying on the ground, writhing in pain and coughing up wave after wave of blood. As he walks over to get a closer look, his eyes nearly bug out of his sockets.

There's a giant hole in the saiyan's abdomen!

That kid was so strong that he went right through him!

This sight brings back memories from his previous life of fighting a fifteen year old Goku. That bastard had done the exact same thing to him! This however is even more impressive. First off, this kid is only four years old, and by the looks of it, hadn't had a day of martial arts training in his life. Yet, this mere _toddler_ of a child was able to focus a ridiculous amount of power into one headbutt. Second, the pure amount of power that this kid used was through the roof; he not only penetrated though the saiyan's armor, which had proven to be extremely durable during his battle, but the saiyan himself!

 _This kid is amazing! Incredible even! He's only four years old, yet if this is what he's capable of right now, imagine what he can do if he learned to control it!_ Goku will be dead soon if he's not already from the shattered sternum that he's suffered at the hands of his brother. Of course the bastard's pathetic friends will wish him back with those wretched dragonballs eventually, but in the meantime Piccolo could take the kid, and train him to control his powers. If he had even a year with the boy, he could make him the biggest weapon the Earth has ever seen!

The potential is phenomenal!

He looks over at the trembling Raditz (who somehow hasn't died yet) in time to see him raise a hand and form a weak ki blast. Much to his shock, Raditz quickly sends it at the brat, who is only getting to his feet now, and scoring a direct hit. The kid is quickly knocked unconscious.

Piccolo sneers. If that blast had been any bigger it would have killed the boy outright. The little twerp probably had used up all of his ki in his attack on his uncle and had absolutely no way to defend himself against the blast. He marches right over to the saiyan to make his death come just a bit sooner since he almost took out his secret weapon.

He notices that the freak is a mess. It's really a pathetic sight to see this once fierce enemy of his lying in a growing pool of his own blood from a blow created by a mere toddler. "Almighty warrior race eh?" he taunts, making sure the alien knows his place. "You are pathetic! Taken out by a toddler." He then smirks evilly, deciding to taunt Raditz further in his final moments of his worthless life. "And do you know what makes your effort completely in vain? On this planet we have these things called dragonballs that can grant you any wish. Goku will surely be wished back by his loser friends and he'll be back, good as new for me to kill within the next year. In fact, you did me a huge favor since once you're wished back once you can't be wished back again, making his next death at _my_ hands permanent!"

The saiyan can only cough up blood in response. Much to Piccolo's disgust, the pathetic bastard gets some of the filthy red liquid on his iconic brown boots. He growls in anger before charging a ki blast in his hand and blasting the disgusting rat's head clean off.

Boy did he hate Raditz. Almost as much as his idiotic brother.

Almost.

He quickly makes his way over to the little boy. Goku's little boy he reminds himself. Goku's little boy with an overwhelming well of untapped power. He will take this kid and train him in his conquest for world domination. However, before he is able to get too far, he hears the faint sound of static, and then laughing coming in the direction of his hated rival… or at least where he used to be. That damn Kami must have taken Goku to Other World with his body. The only thing left over there is that stupid looking glass eyepiece that the saiyan was wearing before. It must have gotten knocked off by the power of the blow Goku's brat dealt him.

 _The thing still is functioning apparently._ Piccolo makes his way over to the offending device. As soon as he picks up the strange technology, it starts talking, or rather, someone on the other end starts talking. _So this apparently is a communication device as well_ , he assumes. He listens in to what the other person is saying, curious as to who would be contacting that bastard he just fought.

"Did you hear that Vegeta?!" one voice exclaims. Piccolo can tell already from the sound of this guy's voice that he's an idiot, much to his chagrin. "There are these things on that planet that Raditz went to that can grant wishes!"

At that his eyes widen. Did they hear what he told that alien before? Obviously, since they are discussing it at this very moment.

"Yes I did Nappa," another, more regal voice replies. Unlike the stupid sounding one, this 'Vegeta's' voice carries a no nonsense tone. Obviously this is the one in charge of the duo. "And I think it sounds like it's worth a trip to that planet to get a hold of them. I believe Earth was the name of the planet."

"Are we going to wish Raditz back Vegeta?" the stupid one, Nappa, replies back. Piccolo holds his breath, hoping they won't. If he had to fight that monster again…

"Of course not Nappa!" Vegeta answers commandingly. Piccolo lets out a breath of relief before scolding himself for being so pathetic as to worry about that. "He was a weakling and that would be a waste of a wish! You are at least five times stronger than him, and don't even get me started on myself."

The green man finds himself frozen in his spot, now not caring about his trepidations. After all, worrying about something so insignificant as keeping his stoic image is nothing in comparison to what he just heard. Did this guy just say that this 'Nappa' was at least five times stronger than the freak he just fought? Piccolo didn't even stand a chance against Raditz!

"You're right as always Vegeta," Nappa replies, obviously sucking up to his superior. Piccolo gulps. The guy who said that was the guy that was claimed to be five times stronger than the saiyan he just fought, yet by the way that he sucks up to the other… this 'Vegeta' must be much stronger than even this Nappa!

Oh dear Kami he's really dug himself in a hole.

"Of course I'm right you buffoon! Honestly Nappa, use your head for once! Think about what we could get with this wish. We could wish for immortality and then we wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore. We'd be invincible!"

"Yeah! That sounds amazing Vegeta! Let's go to Earth and wish for immortality!" At this Piccolo drops the device, eyes wide. For only the second time in his reincarnated life, he's scared speechless. "How long will it take us to get there?" the offending device continues uninterrupted.

"It shouldn't take us more than a year to get there if we leave right now Nappa."

"Oh yeah! Let's go Vegeta."

"Are you forgetting who gives the orders Nappa!?"

"Sorry Vegeta."

"That's more like it. You may be an elite, but I am the prince of all saiyans! I command nothing but the utmost respect from my subjects. Nonetheless, I agree with you. Let's move."

He can hear a faint clicking sound, and he assumes the device just shut off. His mind is reeling right now at what he just heard. Two more of these saiyans will be coming to Earth within the next year. And not only that, but they're apparently many times stronger than the one that he just fought and couldn't even defeat. In fact, the only reason he's still standing right now is because of that–

His eyes widen again as he darts over to the unconscious toddler. This kid showed some absolutely mind-boggling power earlier. If he can harvest this power, he may have a shot at defeating these new saiyans! He grins evilly as he picks up the toddler by the back of his kimono. He _will_ teach this kid to control his power and he _will_ be the biggest weapon he's ever had.

With that kind of power, the kid will be unbeatable.

* * *

~Guru's Lookout, Planet Namek; December 20th, Age 762~

"Lord Guru! There are three strong kis heading this way!"

The Grand Elder of the Namekians looks over at his most loyal child with pride. Their race has been wiped out to just the two of them and Dende, yet the warrior has never left his side once, not even when his own village was under siege. Nail vowed that he would stay by his side always, protecting him from the harshest of evils. It's one of the few things that keeps the eldest Namekian going, despite the fact that his time in this world is nearly up. "I sense them as well Nail. One of them is that Earthling, Krillin, that was here earlier. The strongest one is the evil saiyan I felt land on this planet earlier. However, it's the third power that is the reason that they are all heading this way."

He looks down to see his strongest bodyguard as well as his youngest remaining child looking up at him curiously. "No disrespect intended Guru, but what is the big deal about that third power? It's the weakest one of them all. Aren't you more worried about that other, darker power?"

"Nail!" the smallest protests. "That third power is Gohan, a boy my age who risked his life, along with Krillin, to save mine!" The little Namekian scowls at his larger brother, a gesture that Guru finds amusing, before turning to him with bright, hopeful eyes. "I think they are coming here in order to release Gohan's power, correct Guru?"

The elder can't help the warm smile that comes across his face when seeing young Dende talk about the two Earthlings. His precious child was so fortunate to have run into such pure hearts amongst all of the evil present on this planet. Guru didn't even hesitate earlier to give his dragonball to the bald one as he didn't have selfish intentions for the magical stones, which is a rarity at the moment.

"You are correct in your assumption Dende." the elder responds warmly, causing Dende to beam up at him. No doubt because his new friends are coming back.

"I understand your plan Guru," Nail pipes in. "Those two are pure enough to trust, but I'm still quite concerned about that dark ki that's trailing them."

"Ease your fears my son," he replies calmly. "These earthlings may not seem like much, but they can definitely hold their own fine. And even so, you are more than capable of taking the dark ki out if need be." Guru pauses a moment, concentrating on the dark ki. "However, I don't think such precautions are even necessary. I detect that even that evil ki is starting to change for the better."

He can see that his two sons don't quite believe his last declaration, not that he can blame them. However, he is a master at ki detection and in reading one's intentions. Over its time on Namek, the dark ki has been getting less and less evil. It has been a very subtle change, so subtle that he doesn't even believe that anyone else has noticed, but the change is definitely present. While he doesn't completely trust whoever bears this ki as of yet, he can definitely tell that whoever it is has been changing for the better.

"Sir! The earthlings are here along with the evil saiyan!" Nail's declaration draws him out of his musings, leaving him to ponder them another time.

"Go out and greet them Nail." As much as that saiyan has changed, he still needs his son to distract him so the saiyan doesn't charge in while unlocking the other Earthling's potential. _I can already detect that he has much ki still hidden, waiting to be tapped into._ "Tell the one called 'Gohan' to come in here to see me. Meanwhile, you are to distract that dark ki while I see this Earthling."

"Yes, Lord Guru," Nail replies obediently, walking out the entrance leaving him alone with Dende. He looks down at his youngest surviving son briefly observing him. The giant Namekian can clearly see the excitement present on his youngest's face in anticipation of getting back together with his savior. Those Earthlings definitely made an impression on Dende, and a very positive one at that.

He smiles at the sight.

"Gohan!" Dende yells, rushing the Earthling and trapping him in an embrace as soon as he sets foot in the entrance. Guru takes this as an opportunity to observe the Earthling. Dende wasn't exaggerating when he said that he was Dende's age. While he is unfamiliar with Earthlings and how they age, he would guess that this 'Gohan' would be no more than a toddler in his race's terms. He is about half the height of the man that came here to retrieve the dragonball, and Guru can tell that this one is still a youth by the facial features. They look very young, and don't look developed as of yet.

The giant Namekian feels a wave of sympathy for this young one. Surely if Gohan is caught up in this mess that is going on at the moment he's had a rather rough childhood up to this point. He has sensed this child before battling other evils. From what Dende tells him, this child is already a rather skilled martial artist. What hardships has this young one had to go through to be such a hardened warrior already at such a tender age?

"Hey Dende!" he can hear the young Earthling boy reply. "I'm glad I got to see you again!" Guru smiles at the innocence he can feel from this youth. While he has indeed had a hard childhood, it seems he still hasn't lost his childish innocence. He looks on as the boy lets go of Dende and turns to him. His smile broadens at the wide-eyed, astonished look he's getting from Gohan.

"Wow Dende, Guru is gigantic!"

He can't help but chuckle mirthfully at that. _Innocent indeed._ "So you are Gohan. Dende has told me a lot about you young one. I can tell that all of his stories about your purity and strength are true, yet I feel a great amount of ki still untapped inside of you. Come here child, and let me unlock your potential."

The young boy grins at him and nods, walking over to his side. "Now child, I will place my hand on your head to get a better reading of your ki. I will then unlock any ki that is still untapped at this point in time for you. Do not fear though; even after this, you will still be able to get stronger. I am merely unlocking ki that you wouldn't normally have access to at this point in your life, as you will end up being a vital part in the defense of this beautiful planet. I can already sense that you have pure intentions, so I only need release your ki. All you have to do is relax and let me do my work. Are you ready child?"

He sees the child nod at him in an affirmative. "I'm ready Mr. Guru, sir." The giant Namekian grins. The young Earthling looks determined and focused, confirming his theories about the boy. Gohan is innocent and pure, like a child, yet when the time is right he sports the maturity of someone much older. Not wanting to waste any time, he places his large hand on top of the child's head. Then he reads the boy's ki.

And he holds back a gasp.

Nothing these days seems to surprise the wise Namekian, but Gohan's ki is definitely an exception. Never in all of his lengthy life has he felt a ki as remarkable as this child's! He knew that this boy was hiding a vast amount of untapped power in his young body, but not even he could imagine how much it actually was. He looks down at the child briefly before closing his eyes and concentrating on the ki again. The well of ki that this young boy possesses is out of this world! There are no words to describe the sheer magnitude of potential that this young one has.

And while the boy's potential ki is surprising, what truly takes him off guard is the purity of the ki. Never has he ever felt such a pure ki! Not even the tiniest drop of darkness taints this phenomenal boy's soul. He never knew that such a pure heart even existed!

Now he finds himself in an unexpected conundrum. The well of power that the boy has is seemingly limitless. If he were to release even a portion of it at this very moment he would have more than enough ki to destroy the evils on this planet, including the horrible villain that has been slaying his people. His planet would be free from the tyranny of Frieza for good.

However, he also realizes that doing so would be incredibly selfish. Yes, this boy has the potential to wipe out the greatest evil that this planet has ever seen… but at what cost? There is a reason that the ki that this child has remains untapped. While it would be a shock to his young body to suddenly get all of that power, he realizes that this boy's body would be resilient enough to adjust to it. The advantages of youth he figures. However, Gohan's youth is also his greatest limitation.

Yes, the young boy's body would be able to handle it, but his mind is another story. At his age, Gohan's mind is still very much susceptible to influence. Introducing that much power into one's body can corrupt anyone, especially a youth. Not only that, but upon briefly reading this young one's memories, he came across times where this boy was pushed over the edge, where his anger took control of him. Guru is able to tell that this boy had absolutely no control over himself during these times, as these memories would go blank for a certain period of time until his anger was resolved. These underlying emotions are worrisome to him with this boy still being so young, and he feels that if he were to release the amount of ki he wants to, Gohan would certainly not be the same after everything would transpire. Guru wants to preserve the unmatched purity of this particular soul as much as possible.

After all, he believes that this boy's purity is the most important thing.

So he throws out his selfish intentions in favor of preserving a hero in the making. He has no doubt that this boy will be not only be an incredible warrior, but an amazing person as well. Guru quickly unlocks some of the boy's amazing ki. While he unlocked enough ki for the child to be able to defend himself and his friends, it is but a very small fraction of his true potential. He then opens his eyes only to see the young boy staring at his hands in a state of awe.

"Is this really my ki?" he hears Gohan mumble to himself. The Namekian smiles, relieved. It seems he succeeded in preserving the innocence of this child. His smile widens as the young boy looks up to him disbelievingly. "Is this really my ki?"

"It is indeed young Gohan," he says in response, taking great joy in the astonished expression on the child's face. It always warms his heart to see such innocence. "I have unlocked your potential. Use it wisely."

Guru figures that the grin on this young boy's face could have given light to their entire solar system. "Wowee! Thanks Mr. Guru, sir!" Gohan exclaims. The youth quickly goes over to Dende and lifts him up in a bone crushing hug. "Dende you were right! This guy is amazing! Thanks for telling us about him!"

The Great Elder really could watch this scene take place all day, finding joy in the excitement and happiness of children. As both boys continue to find comfort and joy from each other, he ponders upon the incredible child that he was very fortunate to meet.

 _That boy will go on to do remarkable things. I foresee this young one growing up to be the savior of the universe one day._

* * *

~The Lookout, Korin's Tower, Planet Earth; May 17th, Age 767~

Meditation.

If anything would be able to calm his nerves, it would be meditation.

Sitting in his usual cross legged position with both hands in a cup shape, he silently hovers two feet off the ground. Everything is still around him, the air not even causing the slightest flutter in his signature, majestic white cape. Everything looks to be calm and collected.

 _Dammit! Even this isn't helping!_ Not even the tranquil lull of mediation is able to help him in the slightest bit. Of course he knows why he's so nervous. That idiot saiyan prince failed to finish off that green grasshopper Cell when that arrogant bastard had the chance. Instead, the moron opted to let the bio-android he was fighting obtain his perfect form in order to get a bigger challenge.

 _Well he certainly got his challenge, that's for sure._ The only redeeming thing about that whole situation is that the stupid prince got what he deserved for his idiotic move. Before Krillin gave Vegeta a senzu, he was beaten to a bloody pulp. Even worse for the saiyan, his pride got absolutely shredded in the process. Thankfully, Cell appears to have inherited Vegeta's arrogance and is giving everyone ten days to get stronger before he fights them all at a tournament that he's holding. Now they are on the Lookout, trying to train as much as they can in order to defeat this new foe.

Only it seems to be impossible.

He sighs as he tries once more to enter a peaceful trance, yet to his frustration it comes to no avail. Dammit! Why can't he just calm down? After all, Goku is currently training Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and surely his former enemy will get strong enough to actually put an end to this new threat.

No! He can't keep on relying on Goku to bail everyone out every time a new threat appears! He needs to get stronger himself. Goku may be the strongest out of everyone, but in this battle, even _he_ may not succeed on his own. It might take the combined effort of everyone to take down this grasshopper-like android.

That's why he's here.

Of course he's going to go in the chamber himself once the father and son are out, but that won't be for another two hours yet! He doesn't know if he even will be able to keep himself sane long enough to wait that long.

"Everyone!" he overhears Mr. Popo shout out. Knowing that the black genie only makes an announcement like this when something truly important is happening, he decides to listen in closely to what his former companion has to say. "Goku and Gohan are emerging from the chamber!"

What? They're done already? But they haven't even been in there for the full 24 hours yet! They still have two more to go! He can hear similar things being said by the others on the Lookout, including a mocking Vegeta who claims the chamber must have gotten the best of the father/son duo. He frowns at that statement. As much as the saiyan prince was saying that to mock his student and his father, it is a legitimate concern. He remembers when Goku was still a boy and came here to train with Kami; the boy could only stay in there for a month before he had to come out.

Is it possible that Gohan couldn't handle the chamber for the full year?

His first reaction is to deny that claim. He taught the boy himself! He personally knows how tough the pre-teen is. But as he ponders the idea further, he realizes that it is entirely possible that a year in there may have just been too much for the demi-saiyan. After all, Gohan was only nine when he entered (although he's going to be biologically ten now). Goku was a good six years older than his student when he entered the first time. And why else would they come out so early? They still had another month left to train! Goku knows that to go up against this threat they need as much time as possible.

Oh Kami! Gohan couldn't handle the chamber for the full year!

He quickly gets out of his meditation position and dashes to the Time Chamber entrance. He remembers that Goku was completely beat when he couldn't handle the chamber the first time; it was not a pretty sight, and Kami had to wait weeks for him to get better before he could continue. If Gohan were to come out in that state…

He quickens his pace to the chamber. Only Gohan could ever evoke such a reaction out of him. Over the years, he has grown to care about the boy deeply, almost as much as a son that he never had. In the wilderness all of those years ago when he was training the boy, he vowed to himself to always protect him, no matter what.

Finally! He's made it to the chamber door. He waits anxiously at the end of the hallway, ready to take his pupil to the healing ward if need be. There is no way that he is going to let that boy suffer any more than he absolutely has to. He faintly notices the others arrive as well, but his focus is solely on the door. All commotion stops as the doorknob starts jiggling from the other side until it is eventually twisted downwards, undoing the latch on the door. Said door makes a soft squeak as it opens up. At first, all he can see from the other side of the door is white. Soon though, a figure starts to take shape in the white silhouette and takes the form of a boy.

And his breath gets caught in his throat.

There, standing in the doorway, is Gohan. The boy appears to no worse for wear, but his tattered clothes tell the tale of the intense training the demi-saiyan must have gone though. His ki is suppressed expertly, giving off hardly any reading at all to his senses. But that isn't what has him stunned speechless.

It's the fact that the child has bleached blond hair and piercing teal eyes.

The hair and eyes of a super saiyan.

What the hell is going on here?

He and Goku had tried endlessly to get Gohan to transform, and from this effort, he's learned the nuances of the transformation. He's seen a super saiyan enough times to know that it takes a great deal of effort not only to obtain the legendary form, but to maintain it. He also knows that it's almost impossible for a super saiyan to stay calm while transformed, and that a lot of excess energy goes into trying to control the heightened emotions that come from the legendary form.

This doesn't make any sense! Gohan is not only completely calm and at ease, but he's actually suppressing his ki! There should be absolutely no way that his student should be able to do that and still hold this form! He's a freaking super saiyan! Super saiyans aren't supposed to have such control over their ki!

What's more, when Gohan entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he wasn't able to transform at all! How the hell did he not only transform–at the age of ten mind you–but also gain such mastery and control over the form that he is able to be his normal self while still transformed? What kind of ki manipulation skills does his pupil have to be able to control the ki flow of so much ki so easily?

It seems as if his student finally noticed that he is here as he can see him grin that famous grin that he and his father are known for. "Hey Piccolo!" Gohan shouts, running over to him. The Namekian can only gape at the grinning boy, still reeling from the fact that he's not only alright, but more powerful than ever before. He looks down into his pupil's now teal eyes and sees obvious excitement and happiness at seeing him, but his eyes also sparkle with an innocence that only Gohan could give off. It's that same sparkle in his student's eyes that changed him from a demon king to a protector of the planet.

Only this time that sparkle is coming from the eyes of a super saiyan.

Again, What. The. Hell!?

"Wow, I didn't expect everyone to be out here to greet us." Piccolo takes his eyes off of his pupil for a moment and looks at the new presence. Goku is standing in the doorway to the chamber now, and his former enemy seems to have full mastery of his super saiyan form as well. Piccolo stretches out his senses and… yep. He's suppressing his ki too, although admittedly not as expertly as Gohan. But Goku's mastery at least makes more sense since the saiyan has been a super saiyan for four years now (five counting the time spent in the chamber) and is a full-fledged adult.

"Well we didn't expect you two to come out of the chamber two hours early!" Yamcha counters his former enemy. "We had actually thought that something might have happened to you guys." Piccolo admits that the lazy bandit has a point. After all, that's why _he_ was here waiting for them.

The full blooded saiyan scratches the back of his head in the annoying nervous gesture that he also passed on to his son. "Geez guys, sorry to worry you all, but Gohan and I just completed our training sooner than expected. It would have been pointless for us to stay in there any longer."

"So does that mean that you found the key to beating Cell in there Goku?" Krillin now asks.

Goku merely chuckles in response. "You could say something like that…" the saiyan trails off. Piccolo raises an eyebrow. What did Goku mean by that? Just what kind of training did he and Gohan go through for him to be acting so confident? He wonders just how much stronger being able to maintain the super saiyan form as if it were his base made both him and Gohan.

He looks down at the boy one more time. Besides the hair and eyes, Gohan doesn't look any different than he did before. Just what kind of power is hiding beneath that calm, collected exterior?

"Hey Piccolo," said boy speaks, and the Namekian has to shake himself out of this musings to give the demi-saiyan his attention. "Could you make me some clothes just like yours? I think they look cool…" Gohan then gives him a grin so bright that it's blinding. "And I want everyone to know who taught me how to fight."

A small smile appears on his face before he can stop himself. Damn that boy! He's the only one that can make him soft, and it's infuriating! Yet, he takes one look at the boy's face, the demi-saiyan's eyes shining with love and adoration, and he realizes that he wouldn't have it any other way. "Sure kid, they'll look real good on you."

He puts one of his hands on Gohan's head and concentrates his ki into the form of his signature clothes. This has proven to be one of his more handy techniques over the years, as he constantly needs new clothes after every sparring session he has with his ghost self. This time though, he's making the outfit for his student. In an instant, Gohan's torn and tattered saiyan armor is replaced with the iconic purple gi and brown boots that Piccolo is known for. He even added in a cape for Gohan, figuring the boy would find that particular element to be most beneficial in aiding his training.

Gohan looks himself over in awe, and then beams up at him. Piccolo can't help but wonder what he did to deserve such a smile. All he did was give the kid clothes. "Wow!" his pupil exclaims enthusiastically, eyes sparkling again. "This is so awesome! Thank you Piccolo!"

The Namekian smirks, placing his hand on the boy's head. "Glad you like them kid."

"Wow Gohan," Goku adds in. "You look sharp! Like a mini-Piccolo." Said Namekian scoffs at that. The kid doesn't look _that_ much like him. However, the boy super-saiyan merely beams at his father, forcing a ghost of a smile on Piccolo's face. Damn kid. "So guys," his former enemy continues, now addressing everyone else. "What did we miss? Can you guys fill us in on what's happening on Earth?"

Piccolo scowls through the whole explanation, shooting Vegeta a death glare when it was mentioned what the buffoon actually did to aid in this mess. By the end of it, his former enemy's cheerful expression melts into one of weariness. "So Cell's stronger than ever huh…" The saiyan adds after he's caught up to speed.

"But you're still strong enough to take him… right?" The former desert bandit counters, and Piccolo has to bite back a scoff at the desperation he heard in his voice.

"I'm not sure Yamcha," Goku replies, catching everyone off guard. This is the first time that Piccolo has heard his former enemy not confident in his ability. But he can't help but remember that not even ten minutes ago, he was as confident as can be. Coming out of the chamber early made that very clear. "I haven't felt Cell's power up close yet so I'm not sure how I compare against him," the man continues. "So I guess the only way to find out is to find him and compare myself to what I feel."

This causes outrage amongst the rest of the group, but not Piccolo. He knows how much Cell wants this tournament that he set up. The android won't do anything to Goku… yet. "Hey guys, don't worry! I'll be back before you know it!" The Earth raised saiyan reassures his friends again before putting two fingers to his forehead and teleporting to Cell's ki. It's only about thirty seconds before his former enemy reappears in front of them.

"So what'd you think Goku?" Krillin asks this time. "I mean, you're stronger than him now right?"

Goku scratches the back of his head and Piccolo knows his response before he even opens his mouth. His former rival only does that when he's nervous about something. "Actually Krillin, if I were to fight Cell right now, he'd probably clobber me!"

Piccolo almost falls over at that declaration. He admits that he's somewhat taken aback by Goku's response; not by the content, but how he said it. The way Goku said that he would get beat was in the most aloof manner possible; the man made it sound like he couldn't care less that Cell could beat him.

He definitely has something up his sleeve.

The question is… What?

Piccolo frowns at the rest of the group's outrages and pleas to go back into the chamber. He feels his eyebrow twitch at the pathetic display of cowardice that everyone is showing at the moment. So Goku said that he wasn't strong enough to beat Cell. That doesn't mean anything! Maybe he's suggesting that they all work together. While Piccolo admits that that would most certainly wound his pride, he would definitely jump in and help if the fate of the Earth was on the line.

Finally, Goku gets his friends to calm down, reassuring everyone that everything will turn out just fine. Again, the way Goku looks at them makes Piccolo think that the saiyan is planning something. He's so confident that they are going to win, even after essentially saying that he doesn't have a chance against Cell. What has him so confident? What is he planning?

It is at that time that he notices the man's gaze. The confident expression isn't focused on the rest of the group, but on one individual in particular. His son. That's when it hits Piccolo. This man is showing this confidence to placate Gohan! Maybe Goku doesn't have any real confidence at all, but doesn't want Gohan to worry about it. That would make sense…

If he didn't know that Goku doesn't fake his emotions.

He spent three years with the Son family training for the androids, and over that time he's learned many things about how his former rival acts around his family. One of the things that he picked up on is that Gohan seemed to know his father's feelings, even if Goku tried his best to hide them, so over the years, Goku just stopped trying to hide his emotions from his son. Knowing this, Piccolo knows that the confidence that Goku is showing right now is genuine, especially since he's looking directly at his son.

And just like that, his eyes nearly bulge out of his head in realization.

Goku isn't suggesting that he's going to beat Cell, or that they even work together. No. His former rival is expecting someone else to step up to the plate.

And that someone else is his son.

Gohan.

His eyes dart right over to Gohan. He already can tell that the kid has no clue what his father is planning since the expression on his pupil's face shows confusion, but Piccolo can tell that the confidence that his father is displaying is reassuring him.

Piccolo's immediate reaction to this hidden plan of Goku's is absolutely not! He will not have the one person that he deeply, truly cares for go out and risk his life. It would just be too devastating to him if something were to happen to Gohan. His life would be so much emptier without his prodigy of a pupil.

Then the rational part of his brain takes over. He realizes that Goku has the exact same feelings towards his son, perhaps even stronger. How many conversations did he have to have with his former rival to tell him to actually go hard against his son when training him? Too many for the Namekian to remember. He knows that Goku would be the least likely person to suggest that his son fight the green-grasshopper. Not because of lack of confidence in him mind you, but just because he wants to protect the boy. He also knows that his former rival would put Gohan's life before his own, as would Piccolo.

He also can't get around the fact that Goku is just so confident. The amount of confidence the saiyan is displaying at the moment suggests that he not only thinks his son will be able to win, but he believes that he would win in a landslide. As the Namekian continues to gaze upon his pupil, he remembers that despite this normal looking exterior, that Gohan is still a super saiyan. Not only that, but he's showing some superb ki manipulation skills by just being able to hold his transformation and suppress his ki. This makes Piccolo wonder…

Just how much ki is Gohan hiding?

* * *

~Cell Games Arena, Northern Wastelands; May 26th, Age 767~

"Now the real fight will begin."

He focuses on the fight in the ring, knowing his mentor is right. His father and Cell were just warming up before, despite the astonished reactions of all of his father's friends. He has been training with Goku for the last eleven months and knows that his dad is capable of much more than he showed just a few seconds ago. Of course Cell seems to be holding back as well, but he has all of the confidence in the world that his dad will defeat the green menace.

After all, no one's better than his dad.

"Wow, they're really going at it!" Krillin shouts. "They're moving so fast! I can't even keep up anymore!"

"No kidding Krillin," Yamcha replies. "They are on a completely different level."

Gohan raises an eyebrow as his eyes dash though the air, following his father's and Cell's movements easily. It's true that they are starting to get serious in their fight, but he has no trouble following them. He can see every strike, every counter–he can even see his dad's look of fierce determination and Cell's arrogant smirk of satisfaction. In his opinion, they really aren't moving that fast, but he doesn't voice that opinion out loud. He just shrugs off the comments and figures that the reason he can see so easily is because he's able to track his dad's ki better than anyone.

Besides, his dad's ki hasn't even reached _his own_ max yet. His father is still obviously holding back.

Focusing back on the fight, he sees his dad and Cell stop fighting momentarily. It seems as if they are discussing something, but he can't hear what they are saying. He can't see his father's expression since he is facing away from him, but if the expression on Cell's face is anything to go by, something big is about to happen. Suddenly his dad turns around, and the look on his father's face confirms his suspicions. He gulps at what the green android has planned.

"Guys!" Goku shouts desperately at everyone. "Cell is planning to blow up the ring! Everyone move away!"

Gohan is still processing his father's words by the time Cell releases a powerful ki blast at the ring. His instincts quickly take over and he dashes away from the ring and towards Hercule. While the strange man may be the strongest human on Earth outside of the Z-fighters, he wouldn't survive an impact with a ki blast like this at this close a range. The demi-saiyan quickly picks up Hercule by the back of his gi and uses his superior speed to dash away from the ring just as the ki blast makes its impact on the earth.

The shockwave from the after-effects of the ki blast almost makes him drop Hercule, but he thankfully is able to maintain his grip on the man. Eventually, he gets far enough away from the action and sets Hercule down next to where Trunks and Krillin set down the news reporter and cameraman.

"You guys should leave while you still can," the demi-saiyan advises the 'World Champ' and his crew before flying off to the plateau that the others are standing on. He can faintly hear Hercule's protests as he flies away. As he listens, he can't help but roll his eyes before letting out a giggle at the memory of how the man came here. He admits that the guy was really funny earlier when he was trying to intimidate Cell. _Who tries to break tiles with a karate chop to show off their skills?_

His musing is cut short by the continuation of his father's battle with Cell. As he lands next to his mentor, he focuses back on his father and Cell. The battle is really starting to heat up. His father is going at it even harder than before, and Gohan can tell that he's starting to get some good hits in on Cell. The frustration on the android's face tells him that Cell knows it too. His father seems to finally be trying, though Gohan can still tell he's holding back a little.

However, it seems as if his father is planning something. He is able to get a good axe handle blow in on Cell, forcing him to the ground, and immediately he starts to charge a Kamehameha. His dad seems to be putting tons of ki into this blast, as if trying to deliver a finishing blow to Cell. He smiles. His father is about to win this. Surely this blast will be able to finish Cell off.

Everyone else seems to have other worries however, begging Goku not to unleash the blast in fear of what it might do to the Earth. Cell is even mocking the Earth raised saiyan for it, claiming that he's going to blow up the planet that he's trying to save. Gohan frowns at everyone's worry. Don't they realize that his father knows this? Do they really have so little faith in his dad? He knows that his dad wouldn't unleash that Kamehameha from up there. He must have another plan. The demi-saiyan quickly glances at his mentor, who returns his gaze with a knowing look.

He smiles. At least Piccolo knows that his dad wouldn't be foolish enough to unleash that Kamehameha from where he currently is. His dad definitely knows what he's doing.

His prediction comes true a moment later when right when Goku is about to unleash the deadly Kamehameha, he uses instant transmission to teleport directly in front of Cell and unleashes the blast at point blank range. Gohan cheers, laughing with glee. He knew his father was innovative, but that was pure genius! He just hopes that it was enough to finish off the bio-android that has been terrorizing the Earth.

His laugher however fades as the dust from the blast clears, revealing Cell… at least the lower half of his body. But he knows that Cell has the ability to regenerate. After all, he has his mentor's cells in him. He frowns, tuning out the shouts of victory from Yamcha and Tien. They've never witnessed the android's regenerative properties before, so they don't know that he's capable of coming back from an attack like that. Still, he can't help but pout when he sees the lower half of Cell's body jump to its feet, and then regenerate the rest of it a moment later.

However, Gohan feels out the android's ki and smiles softly. Regenerating had taken a lot of the green menace's ki, and he's now weaker as a result. Gohan smile turns into a grin when he realizes that is father hasn't even shown his full power yet. At this rate, his dad should be able to finish off Cell no problem!

The green menace stretches out his new body quickly before dashing at Goku. Gohan watches the fight play out and sees both warriors go at it again, and it seems like they both are giving it their all. They both are exchanging blows at very high speeds, appearing to be in a stalemate. He knows better though, and can't help the smile that comes to his face. His father still hasn't shown his full power yet! There's no way that Cell can win.

However, as the battle continues on, he becomes worried. His dad is doing things that he normally wouldn't do now. He is currently using lots of his energy shooting multiple ki blasts at Cell, and his ki is suffering as a result. Of course, Cell's ki is falling too, but his father's is falling much faster.

…But that doesn't make sense! Why is his father getting weaker when he hasn't even used his full power yet?

Eventually, Cell stops his father's ki onslaught by using a force field that spans a good quarter of a mile. He frowns, feeling his father's ki. Why is his ki so low? Surely he still has something hidden up his sleeve. There's no way that he is finished yet.

"I give up!"

He freezes in shock at that statement that came from his father. What did he just say?

"What did you say Goku?" Apparently Cell was thinking the same thing.

"I said, 'I give up!'" his father restates what he previously said. "I can't beat you Cell, so there's no point in drawing out this fight any more than we have to." This confirmation comes to not only his shock, but every single person within hearing distance. Of course though the shock is completely understandable. After all, they just heard his father say that he can't beat Cell.

"Are you serious Goku?" he hears Cell reply incredulously through his shock. "You realize what this means right? If you give up, then there is no one left to fight me and I will blow up the Earth."

"Hold up there Cell," Goku counters back. "Just because I'm done fighting doesn't mean that there's no one left to fight."

Even though Cell is high up in the air, Gohan can clearly see the amused smirk on the android's face. "Oh really Goku? Who else is going to fight me? Vegeta? Piccolo? Trunks?" The monster scoffs. "Please Goku, no one else even comes close to your power. They would be a waste of my time."

He can hear Vegeta growling at Cells comment, but he ignores it in favor of listening to what his father is going to say next. He has to have some sort of plan. After all, he wouldn't just hand over the Earth to Cell. "You're wrong Cell," his dad counters. "There's still one more person that can fight you. After him, there's no one else. I will say this though. This fighter is a lot stronger than I am, and after fighting you first hand, I know that he's stronger than you as well."

This gets the demi-saiyan's attention. Who could his dad be talking about? Is he talking about Vegeta or Trunks? After all, Vegeta did go in the time chamber again after he and his dad got out, and Trunks has proven to be incredibly unpredictable when it comes to his power. But as much as he thinks about that, he just can't help but remember the awed expressions on both of their faces when his dad powered up before. They seemed genuinely surprised at how strong his father was.

But if it's not one of them… then who is it that he's talking about?

"Oh really Goku?" Cell taunts, and Gohan can tell that the android clearly doesn't believe his father for a second. "Stronger than me eh? You humor me Goku! No one is stronger than me!"

He hates to admit it, but Gohan agrees with the android. If his father can't beat Cell then who can? However, Goku merely smirks at Cell. "I would like to hear you to say that after he beats you Cell!"

"What was that?" Cell retorts. The android is clearly taken off guard by Goku's comment. His father merely smirks wider.

"I said, 'I would like to hear you say that after he's beaten you!'"

The android scowls. "You seem to have a lot of confidence in this mystery fighter of yours Goku." Gohan can hear the contempt in the android's voice at that comment.

"Of course I do Cell. I know with all of my being that he will finish you off for good. The Earth couldn't be in better hands."

This statement of faith catches everyone completely off guard. Gohan can see that Cell is shocked at this statement, but for once, he understands why. He can't believe what his father is saying. He is talking like whoever this person he is claiming will fight next will win without a doubt.

Who in the world could he be talking about?

"Well you're certainly good at making up stories I'll give you that," Cell states mockingly. "However, I'll allow it for now. Tell me who this fictional fighter of yours is and I'll show you just how foolish you are."

His father however takes the obvious mocking without batting an eye. "Gladly Cell," he states, before looking up at the cliff. Gohan can feel his father's gaze right away and knows that he's looking directly at him, full of confidence. This puzzles him for only a moment until his dad continues with the announcement of the next fighter.

"You're up, Gohan!"

And with those words, life as he knew it would never be the same again.


	2. Haunted

**A/N: Wow! Thank you everyone that reviewed and showed interest in this story! You guys are awesome!**

 **This is the actual first chapter of this rewrite. As you could tell by the prologue, this version is extremely different than my original. I am going into much more detail in certain scenes that I merely mentioned before, as well as changing up certain scenes to better fit my current views and concepts.**

 **One of my main objectives of this rewrite is to show this story from the point of view of a variety of characters, mainly Goku and Piccolo, as well as Gohan. This is accomplished by writing it directly from writing scenes from their POV. Not only that, but this also is a tool to hide elements that are in plain sight as if the character doesn't know it exists, then neither does the reader. In my opinion, this makes for a more interesting, dramatic story.**

 **Unfortunately, most of my updates will not come this quickly. Like I had mentioned previously, I am in the middle of a busy time in my life, so don't expect weekly updates. I am merely posting what I have already completed up to this point (which is up through the next chapter) over the next few weeks. I will work on completing what I can as quickly as I can, then post it when complete. The good news is that I'm nearly done with Chapter 3 at this point so that may be added to the "completed chapter" category soon!**

 **In the meantime, enjoy this chapter!**

"Dialogue"

 _Thoughts/Mindscape_

 _"Telepathic communication"_

~Change in setting~

*Action*

 **Flashback/Dream sequence**

* * *

Chapter 1: Haunted

 **~Cell Games Arena, Northern Wastelands; May 26th, Age 767~**

 **"AHHHHH"**

 **Goku can't help but wince at the sound of the scream from the eleven year old on the battlefield. Not just because of the physical pain that he himself is feeling at the moment, but because of the emotional pain that is causing his son to scream out to the heavens.**

 **This is** ** _not_** **the way he wanted this to happen.**

 **A lot has occurred to get to this point. His patience both as a warrior and a father has been tested to the absolute limit. There have been many times throughout the whole series of events that has led up to this point where he wanted to go out on the battlefield and help his son, protect him from any sort of pain. Any good father would feel the same way if their precious child was in danger. At the same time though, his son has already proven to everyone here that he is the only one capable of destroying the monster that has been terrorizing Earth. Not only that, but as a warrior, he also knows that he has to respect the warrior that his son has become and not interfere.**

 **After all, he would not have sent his son out to do this if he wasn't absolutely positive he would win.**

 **But even now that the deed has already been carried out, as his son continues to scream his lungs out he wonders if he made the right decision. Yes, Gohan's ki is increasing at an absolutely phenomenal rate. He already can tell that his son has broken the barrier that all of the saiyans have been trying to break ever since they realized it was possible. His ki just continues to skyrocket after each pained scream. His son's ki is now so much greater than his own that it's almost laughable, but it also makes Cell's look like the Earth compared to the Sun. The Earth raised saiyan doesn't know if the green android is hiding any more power, but he's positive that even if he is, it's not even close to the amount that Gohan is emitting at the moment, at least if the expression of pure fear on Cell's face is anything to go by. This thought makes Goku smile in pride for a moment.**

 **Yes, Gohan's power is phenomenal…**

 **But at what cost?**

 **That smile of pride instantly fades at the sound out his son letting out another inhuman sounding scream. The pure amount of pain he can feel coming out of that scream is becoming absolutely unbearable. Gohan's power has always been drawn out by strong emotions, usually fear or anger. Of course the saiyan father knew this, and his expectation was to have Cell bring out this power by forcing Gohan into a corner.**

 **Instead however, the diabolical bio-android had used torture to bring it out, both physical and emotional. It took sending out a bunch of mini-Cells after everyone, and the death of a valued ally, but Cell was finally able to push his son over the edge.**

 **And this is the result.**

 ***Boom***

 **Goku is brought out of his thoughts about his son by a powerful explosion. He looks up from where he's lying and only sees a cloud of blue dust in front of him. After a moment, the cloud clears, revealing an incredibly shocking sight.**

 **His son, completely changed.**

 **At first glance, not much appears to be different about Gohan. His hair seems to have darkened a shade and now shines a pure golden color, and it also is standing straight up. The pre-teen's aura has also changed, still golden like before, but now bolts of blue electricity are dancing around his form and jumping off of his body every now and then. Speaking of his son's body, it appears to have grown even more, his muscles bulking out significantly, but not too much where it impairs his movement like Trunks' 'ultra super saiyan' form.**

 **Goku can feel a change in his son's ki though. It is enormous beyond his comprehension like he felt before, however, it now feels… different. He can't really put a word on what it is that is different, only that it's different at all… like it's been tainted somehow. This causes great confusion to the saiyan father for a few moments.**

 **That's when Gohan finally looks down at him and he gets a good look at his son's eyes.**

 **And suddenly, all becomes clear for him.**

 **And the truth is absolutely horrifying.**

* * *

~Son Household, Mount Paozu, 439 East Mountain District; June 23rd, Age 767~

He shoots up in his bed, panting heavily. Sweat drips down his face with his eyes wide open, staring blankly into the dark room. He greedily inhales some of the sweet oxygen from the air as he tries to shake off the memories of yet another night terror. Looking to his left instinctually to check on his wife, he sees her sleeping soundly into the night through the darkness, and lets off a silent sigh of relief that he at least didn't wake her this time.

Now groaning, he shakes his head to try and clear his thoughts. A month has passed since that fateful day! Why is he still having nightmares about it? Heck, he's not even the one that was at the center of all of the stress and pain that day!

He can't even imagine what kind of nightmares Gohan has been having…

He subconsciously reaches out to feel his son's ki at the moment, an automatic reaction anytime he feels threatened or afraid. He doesn't really understand it too well, but he has a special connection with his son; its like he can feel his emotions. If his son is having a nightmare or is ever in any sort of trouble, he will know right away. But much more importantly, the feeling of his son's ki always comforts him. Gohan has always evoked a sense of calm and peace within him. Whenever he needs to calm down or needs to draw some extra strength and confidence from within himself, all he has to do is reach out for his son's ki and all becomes better.

He sighs in relief after feeling that his son is in an, unfortunately rare, peaceful slumber at the moment. Much like him, Gohan has been having frequent night terrors ever since he destroyed the green grasshopper-like android for good. His son was a true hero that day, surpassing himself and everyone else, putting a monumental gap between them in power, and defeating the greatest threat Earth had ever seen; however, it didn't come without consequences…

Bringing him back to his nightmare.

Putting his hands to his head, he recalls the flashback to the Cell Games he had. He's not surprised by the content of the dream, as he has been reliving the same moment over and over again. At first he was confused as to why he kept reliving that specific memory, but now he thinks he's figured out. It was those moments before he saw his son's transformed eyes that were the worst moments of his life. Those were the moments when he realized his misgivings as a father. He realizes now that if he would have just paid more attention than he did, then he would have seen that his plan was going to backfire on him from the beginning.

He didn't expect his son to not only figure out his plan, but tell Cell about it, causing the android to work endlessly to try and bring it out. He also didn't realize the absurd amount of resolve his son had to keep in his power. It seems that Gohan has a huge fear of this hidden power of his, something that he never realized his son feared. He knew that Gohan knew about this power. He was certain that his son was aware that he grows incredibly strong when it comes out. He never would have guessed though that the incredibly talented chibi he calls his son was actually _afraid_ of his gift.

Most of all though, he had no clue how much his son hated to fight. He hated it so much that he would refuse to fight even the most diabolical threat Earth has ever seen, one that had killed literally millions of people. Of course he understands not wanting to kill; Goku would go to great lengths to prevent himself from killing anyone he didn't need to, but in this case, he knows that Cell was one of the few beings that actually needed to die. He had learned from the whole Frieza debacle that some people will never change no matter what. Cell was definitely one of those people.

It was a combination of these aspects of his son that caused his plan to completely unravel on him. Instead of Cell pushing Gohan to his limits in a competitive battle like he had planned on happening, his son had refused to fight completely, frozen in fear of what might come about if he released his powers. This lead he monster to instead not only torture his son physically, but mentally and emotionally as well in order to bring out this power.

And that shouldn't have happened.

He should have known that Gohan wouldn't want to bring out that power! He's the boy's father for crying out loud! He's supposed to know the kid better than anyone else! How was it that he didn't know that his son would react that way? Was it because he's a bad father? But he loves his son more than anything! Isn't that the most important criterion for being a good father?

Maybe, but he assumes it also takes more than just that.

He realizes now that he should have told Gohan his plan from the get go. His son is a logical kid after all, who is much more mature than a normal eleven-year-old. Then maybe Gohan would have entrusted him with the information about his trepidations with his hidden power earlier.

About a week after the Cell Games, Goku was finally able to coerce Gohan into telling him all about what was going through his mind before he lost his temper and let loose his mind-boggling power. If he would have realized just how much his son feared his special gift from the kais, then perhaps he may have been able to help the chibi demi-saiyan alleviate those fears.

But instead, Gohan is now more afraid of them than ever, and in all honesty, he doesn't blame him at all. Yes, Gohan finally had control of those powers that were so out of control before, as he was able to sustain them through another super saiyan transformation, but that only gave him physical control. Mentally, he was not the same.

And that's what's truly horrifying about all of this.

Goku will never forget that look that Gohan had in his eyes when he looked at him after he destroyed that first Cell Junior. That haunted look that those turquoise eyes held was the single most fearsome sight he had ever seen. The look of pure pain and hatred that he saw in those eyes terrified the saiyan father more than anything before. It's not because of the look that the eyes held. He had seen similar looks from most of the villains he's faced in the past. No, it was the fact that it was _Gohan's_ eyes that held that look. And he knows that the look wasn't directed at him or anyone other than Cell and his minions, but it's the fact that Gohan— _his son—_ had that look in his eyes at all that makes him shiver just thinking about it.

Remembering that sight of his son's eyes alone had made him determined to help his son through all of this. Right after his son had told him about the fears he had about his hidden powers, Goku had apologized to his son profusely for putting him through all of that to begin with. Of course Gohan being the incredibly amazing son that he loves with all of his heart, had forgiven him instantly, stating that he never once blamed him for what happened. How he managed to get such an incredible kid for a son he will never know.

Still though, he had told his son that he will help him learn to control those powers that he had just gained through intense training. Surprisingly, Gohan didn't object at all to the training, although Goku did have to persuade his wife to allow it. And so, with the additional help of Piccolo, he has been training his son for the past three weeks in order to alleviate his son's fears of his hidden powers that he might need to utilize in the future. He also wants to give his son confidence in his ability to not lose himself mentally when he goes to that next level.

This thought makes Goku sigh. As much as Gohan seemed to be for the idea of training his new form in theory, he seems to be hesitant while actually training with them physically. While Gohan can access the transformation which Piccolo and him have creatively dubbed 'super saiyan 2' at will, his mental control becomes shaky once he enters that state. This has led Gohan to avoid going to the next level as much as possible, even taking quite the beating from them while trying to force him into it. Only twice since the training started has Gohan transformed, and both of those times the chibi had felt incredibly guilty afterwards because he would beat both him and Piccolo into submission until the demi-saiyan finally realized what he was doing.

Goku has yet to see that haunted look in his son's eyes again though. For that he is grateful.

He admits that at times, Gohan has been very brutal. It still amazes him how powerful his son is. Even when both Piccolo and him double-team Gohan, they still stand no chance against the demi-saiyan child when he's a super saiyan 2…

And Gohan knows it too.

This has lead the demi-saiyan to constantly taunt and berate them, all the while showing them no mercy in the fight. While a super saiyan 2, Gohan has never pulled punches and has always gone out of his way to try and show just how superior he is. It's as if he completely changes and the transformation takes over.

As bad as he gets though, Goku has never feared for his life when fighting his son. Even though Gohan has limited control of his mental state when transformed, he knows that his son would never seriously hurt him, or hurt him in any permanent way; he still has complete and absolute trust in his boy. Still, he knows that despite how incredibly powerful his son has become, the chibi demi-saiyan's ki hasn't reached its limit.

Piccolo and him have discussed some possibilities on why Gohan has such a difficult time with this transformation. His former rival believes that Gohan might be gaining power _too_ quickly, and that this dramatic increase in power is altering his mental state in an unfavorable way. If this theory is true, then the last thing they want to do is to make Gohan stronger.

However, Goku personally believes that this difficulty comes simply from a lack in confidence from his son. This is a thought that makes him feel even more guilty since he believes that it was the way that Gohan obtained this power—from being tortured—that has the demi-saiyan associating this power with even more fear and anger than he did before. In turn, he is much more afraid of the power. This then leads to self-frustration and anger that Gohan can't get over this fear, creating a dangerous downward spiral of lack of control of his emotions. All of this adds up to his lack of control of the super saiyan 2 form, leading to even lower self-confidence.

He concludes that he desperately needs to help his son with his confidence. He knows that it won't be easy, but it will work wonders not only in his fighting, but in the way he lives his life. As he shakes off his latest nightmare and crawls back into bed with his wife slumbering peacefully next to him, he is suddenly flooded with determination to help his son with his confidence problem. He knows that he can do it!

After all, what kind of dad would he be if he didn't?

* * *

 _One of the universal energy sources among living things is glucose, a six-carbon simple sugar that, when broken down, is able to be chemically metabolized into molecules of Adenosine Tri-phosphate, or ATP. This is considered the most important universal molecular energy source. Without ATP, certain key chemical reactions will not occur._

He reads the passage in his textbook, engrossed by the topic. His mother had wanted him to study for a few hours before he went out to train with his father, and he had simply agreed. It's not like he doesn't like studying; in fact, he has always loved being able to expand his knowledge, finding something satisfying about being able to learn something new and apply his knowledge to the real word. He just doesn't like to be _forced_ to do it, like his mother had done excessively in his earlier years. He's glad that she seems to be a bit more mellow these days, and isn't nearly as strict as she used to be, though he admits, she still is a very strict teacher.

 _Normally when glucose is taken in by an organism it is broken down in a process called "glycolysis." This process transforms the molecule into two three-carbon pyruvate molecules, generating two ATP molecules and two molecules of protonated nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NADH in the process. NAD, the deprotonated form of NADH, is another biologic molecule essential in this process. It acts as an electron acceptor during the stages of glycolysis, as well as the Creb's cycle, which will be discussed in more detail later on._

As he continues to read, the chibi eagerly takes notes, making sure that he will be able to study the abridged version of this later. The demi-saiyan admits that he finds the subject of cellular biochemistry rather interesting. Thinking about it further, he also finds it ironic that he is learning this subject just once month after defeating an android built off of the very concepts that he is studying in this unit.

 _At this point, each pyruvate molecule goes through one of two molecular pathways of metabolism: the fermentation pathway, or the Creb's cycle, the latter of which will lead to the electron transport chain. Which way the pyruvate goes depends on the organism and whether or not oxygen is present in the body._

 _Fermentation is much less efficient in the fact that it doesn't generate any more ATP molecules, but only oxidizes NADH back to NAD. This allows glycolysis to continue by allowing more electrons to be accepted from other glucose molecules in the glycolysis pathway. This is an inefficient way of using glucose molecules, as it only generates two ATP molecules total from the entire glycolysis/fermentation process, but it is convenient in the fact that it does not require the presence of oxygen to do so. Usually only unicellular organisms, such as anaerobic bacteria and yeast, are able to survive off of fermentation, as more complex multicellular organisms need more energy. This is why organisms such as humans need oxygen, as it is the best molecule at accepting the electrons at the end of the electron transport chain, the most efficient way of generating ATP._

After reading that last paragraph, the chibi scrunches his face in thought. That's the reason why humans need oxygen? So they can go through this process of generating energy in the form of ATP?

For some reason, his thoughts suddenly go to Frieza at this. That space tyrant once said that he didn't need oxygen to survive, so how was that? Did he do fermentation? But this book said that only unicellular organisms are able to live off of that, and that's because that process doesn't generate that much ATP. He knows that Frieza needed more energy than that, especially considering how strong he was. So do arcosians (he thinks that's what he heard Vegeta call Frieza's race) use a different electron acceptor at the end of the electron transport chain?

He frowns at that thought. Frieza also said he could survive in the vacuum of space, meaning that there are no gasses whatsoever to breathe in. Perhaps the arcosian race doesn't use glucose as an energy source, or perhaps they make use of the glucose go through a completely different process of glycolysis.

The demi-saiyan child palms his head, shaking it slightly. This stuff is really complicated!

He then thinks of Cell, and how he came about. The green menace had said himself that he was made from the cells of all of the greatest warriors of the universe, but how that came to be is what confuses the demi-saiyan. How in the world was Dr. Gero able to merge all of the traits of, not only the humans, but the saiyans, namekians, and arcosians all into one DNA sequence? Not only that, but the evil doctor was able to do it in a way where all of the best qualities of all of the races came out and didn't even interfere with each other! And don't even get him started on how Cell was able to have the innate ability to use everyone's techniques with ease. As much as he hates the man, he has to give Dr. Gero a lot of credit: he really was a genius.

"Hiya Gohan! Wha'cha studying this time?"

Said child grins, turning around to look at his father. "Hey Dad! I'm just studying cellular biochemistry!" He replies enthusiastically, clearly glad to see his dad. "I was just looking at glycolysis and how we make biological energy at the molecular level."

Gohan sees his father's eyes widen a bit before scratching the back of his head, eliciting a few giggles from the child prodigy.

"Wow, that sounds really complicated…" his father replies. This only makes him giggle more.

"It is pretty complicated, but nothing I can't handle," he counters. He smiles proudly at his father. "It's actually really interesting too!"

His father smiles as well, walking over and grabbing a chair before sitting down right next to him. "Is it now?" his father remarks. The older man looks at his book, and then his notes. "If it's that interesting, then perhaps you could explain it to me. I always am willing to learn something as long as it's interesting."

The child nods energetically before grabbing his pencil and his notebook and going over what he read with his father. He smiles to himself. This is why he loves his dad so much. While he knows that his father isn't as 'academically inclined' as many other people, the man is still is willing to let him explain something that the prepubescent child is positive his father has very little experience or interest in. Gohan spends a good two hours going over the intricacies of glycolysis, as well as fermentation, the Creb's cycle, and finally the electron transport chain. Throughout this process his father listens intently to what he was explaining.

"So we need oxygen to make energy?"

"Yep!" he answers his father. He grins, obviously proud that he explained it correctly to him. "Without the oxygen, there is no electric gradient driving the protons that travel through the ATPase at the end of the electron transport chain."

His father looks at him a bit confused at that. "But wait, I thought you said that oxygen was an electron acceptor, not a proton one."

The demi-saiyan grins at his father. He doesn't blame him for being confused by that. He was too the first time he saw this. "That's a good point Dad, but to get the answer to that question we have to go back to basic biochemistry. Remember that electrons are negatively charged while protons are positively charged, and opposite charges attract. Normally electrons are connected to a positive charge, but by themselves they are incredibly unstable.

"What this means is that free electrons rarely, if ever exist by themselves. In a biologic system, such as the human body, they only exist in the form of hydrogen. In this case, since an oxygen ion has a charge of -2 and a hydrogen ion, which is just a proton, has a charge of +1, having oxygen there is able to accept two protons, which will combine with two free electrons from the electron transport chain in the form of hydrogen atom.

"So, even though it's accepting two hydrogen atoms, those hydrogen atoms are sharing their electrons with the oxygen ion, making oxygen an electron acceptor and hydrogen an electron donor." He looks at his father and sees that him nod his head, signifying that he understands. Gohan grins before continuing. "However, the most important thing here is that the protons that the electrons combine with come from the matrix, or the inside part of the mitochondria."

"And the only way for those H+'s you drew…" His dad attempts to continue, pointing at the drawings on the notebook page, which are in an area labeled 'matrix,' "which I think are the protons, can get out is through that… turbine thingy, creating energy… right?"

His father finishes looking at him for confirmation, although Gohan can tell he's not as confident in that statement. He just gives his father a bright smile in return. "Correct!" he states, incredibly happy his father got it right. "The force that the protons create by going through that turbine shaped protein, which is called an ATPase, gives the protein enough energy to phosphorylate ADP to ATP, which is the high energy form of that molecule. The thing is though, without oxygen present, there is no electrical gradient that draws the protons from the matrix, which in turn stops the elections in the cristae from flowing. This shuts down the whole process, and is the core reason why oxygen is so essential for the vast majority of life."

"Wow son," the normally clueless saiyan replies. "That's really complicated, but you're right: it is interesting, plus you seem to have it down pat!"

"Thanks to you, Dad," he quickly replies, turning towards his father. "You allowing me to explain it to you really gave me a good way to practice and study these concepts. Thank you so much for letting me explain it to you!"

He's one hundred percent serious too. He didn't have nearly the grasp of everything before his father came in and helped him. He also knows that his father would much rather be sparring or training, but he took two hours out of that time to sit here and listen to him explain something that he's almost positive that his father has no real interest in. That's just the way his dad is though, always willing to help him in any way, even when it comes to studying. Who knows? Maybe his father wants him to become a scholar too…

Nah!

Nonetheless, he really appreciates the efforts that this great man he is lucky enough to call his father gave him, so much so that he jumps from his chair into his dad's lap and wraps his smaller arms around the man for a heartfelt hug. He really loves his dad a ton, and he really hopes that his father knows that.

He feels his father reciprocate his hug and he buries his head in the older man's chest, savoring the feeling. His father is also the only one who can make a hug feel so amazing. "I'm glad I could help little man," he hears his father state in reply, and he grins at the affectionate nickname. Eventually his father lets him go. However, the young demi-saiyan is content to stay in his father's lap as he looks up at his father's warm, smiling face. "But I do have a question."

"What is it Dad?"

His father smiles at him again, although this one seems to have more amusement behind it. "Well if all living multicellular beings need oxygen to make energy, then how in the world was Frieza and his family able to live without it?"

This causes the chibi to break out into laughter. "You know Dad, I was thinking that exact same thing earlier!" he manages to get out in between giggles. "And I can only say that I have absolutely no clue. Perhaps he was just trying to intimidate us by saying he could survive without it."

"I hope you're not distracting Gohan from his studies Goku!"

He jumps at the new voice. Although he knows that it's his mother, she still startled him nonetheless. How his mother can sneak up on both him and his father is still a mystery to him. He looks over his dad's shoulder to see his mother glaring at his father, although the chibi demi-saiyan can see that his mother isn't really angry at all. While her posture appears to be intimidating and her eyes are fixed into a narrow glare, the look behind her eyes only shows amusement. This isn't the first time that his mom has caught him with his father during one of his study periods, and she knows that his dad is actually helping him with his studies by letting him explain them to him.

…at least he hopes she does…

"Hey Chichi!" his father replies to his mother. Gohan can tell that even though he's not in any trouble that his dad is still a little nervous around his mom, which the chibi finds incredibly amusing. His mother really can be scary when she wants to be, but that's a rarity around the house… unless of course he's slaking in his studies. "Gohan was just explaining to me the biochemical pathways in how we make energy."

Gohan nods repeatedly over his father's shoulder, vehemently defending his father's claim. "Yeah mom, Dad's right. He sat with me for two whole hours while I explained everything to him. Now I know the stuff better than the back of my hand!"

His mother looks at both him and his father skeptically, and for a moment he actually worries that his father and him might be in trouble, but eventually his mother gives them both a smirk. "I see. Well then, I expect you to do well on your next exam then Gohan." He sighs in relief at that. He's glad that his mother understands. "I actually wanted to talk to you both anyways. I have some incredibly great news."

This catches his attention, as well as his father's. His dad turns around so that they are now both facing his mom, and the chibi can already tell that she seems really happy, almost giddy. Now while normally his mother is a cheerful, happy person, she seems to be almost beaming at both of them right now. Gohan finds himself getting excited too, finding his mother's mood contagious.

"What is it Chichi?" His father asks. His dad sounds excited too, probably picking up on his mother's mood.

For some reason, his mom puts both of her hands on her stomach, looking down towards it, almost as if cradling it. "Goku, Gohan, " She starts, her voice more tender that Gohan can remember hearing it for a long time. "Our family is about to gain a new member…" She then looks back at him and his father, the smile on her face looking incredibly warm and soft. "I'm pregnant."

The moment his mother utters those words, his world freezes.

Did she say what he thinks she said?

"Chichi that's incredible!" He hears his father shout, making him wince unconsciously.

Why doesn't he feel the same way?

His father moves him off of his lap, setting him on his feet before walking over and giving his mom a big hug. He just watches the scene happen in front of him, still frozen in place from his mother's sudden announcement. After another moment, his father turns towards him and grins, giving him a thousand watt smile. "Gohan, isn't this great?" He asks him. Gohan grimaces slightly at the great joy in his voice. "You're going to be a big brother like you always wanted!"

He knows he should be happy—heck, he should be thrilled! After all, what his father just stated is absolutely true. Ever since he was little, all he wanted was a little sibling. He absolutely desired someone that he can play with, share his secrets with, take care of and protect, and his mother has just told both him and his father that this desire of his is going to come true. He's going to be a big brother!

Then how come he's not excited?

For some reason, the only thought that comes into his head at the mention of him becoming a big brother is fear—not fear for himself, but for his soon to be little sibling. He fears for his sibling's well being. He knows that he himself can snap at any minute with a simple transformation. Before the Cell Games he would have been so happy that he would have shed tears of joy at the announcement, but now he can only fear for his sibling's safety.

Quickly, before either of his parents can notice, he runs over to his bedroom window, opens it up, and hastily jumps out of it, fleeing the scene as fast as his chibi body will let him. He has to get away. He can't let himself get attached to his sibling no matter what, lest they suffer the consequences. He doesn't know what he would do if he were to hurt them in a moment of rage, just like he did his father and everyone else.

* * *

 **~Cell Games Arena, Northern Wastelands; One Month Prior~**

 **Gohan smirks ruefully, a stray lightning bolt passing his face as he watches his nemesis trembling. Cell is obviously trying to find the strength to rise to his feet after the beating he just received. This is just too great! The evil, diabolical, most viciously maniacal threat the Earth has ever seen, trembling before his power. That stupid green bastard is definitely getting what he deserves. After all, that freak killed millions of people without a second thought, just trying to gain enough strength to beat everyone and take over the Earth. Gohan also just can't forget how Cell sent all of his bastard 'children' after all of his friends. The android deserves every ounce of pain and suffering that he is feeling at the moment.**

 **Not that he plans to stop the suffering anytime soon. No.**

 **He's only just begun.**

 **Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for Gohan, Cell is finally able to stand on his own two feet. The demi-saiyan's smirk deepens at the fear he sees flash across the bastard's eyes before the bio-android flies into the sky suddenly. He just watches, amused at the creature's attempt to escape. He knows full well that he can catch up to the lunatic in an instant. Eventually though, Cell stops ascending and gets into a powering up stance midair, one that is very familiar to everyone present.**

 **"Ka-me…" the android starts chanting, making Gohan raise an eyebrow. What is that bastard up to? What does he think he can accomplish with a Kamehameha? "Ha-me…" A bright ball of blue ki energy starts to form in Cell's cupped hands, growing brighter by the second, a smirk taking over his features. "Take a good load of this, Gohan! I'm going to blow up the Earth with this Kamehameha! Say goodbye to your precious planet!"**

 **The demi-saiyan can hear his group of friends gasp, a few even yelling at him to run away and take cover at Cell's declaration. He however just stares at his enemy with an indifferent look. Does that moron really think that he will just watch and let that attack hit? Cell seems to just get stupider and stupider as this fight goes on. He smirks. Then again, he may have something to do with that, kicking the android around like the trash that he is. He's probably given the imbecile a few concussions. The thought makes him chuckle subconsciously.**

 **"HA!" Cell yells furiously, shooting his arms forward and unleashing the mighty blast. Gohan just looks up, taking in the blast and measuring its strength. He admits that the ki attack looks impressive, the blast lighting up the air with a bright blue light and the ball of energy being quite enormous. However, this is nothing but child's play to him. He suddenly smirks at that particular thought since he is in fact a child.**

 **Finally calculating how much ki he will need, Gohan starts creating his own Kamehameha, getting into his own kame stance. He silently starts chanting the famous words, trying to keep Cell unaware of his plan as long as possible. It probably isn't necessary, seeing as the green buffoon is actually laughing hysterically. He probably thinks that he won or some crap like that. The demi-saiyan shakes his head in disgust before concentrating once more on his attack. A blue orb, already twice as bright as Cell's forms between his hands. Once he feels like his opponent's attack is close enough, he thrusts his own arms forward and unleashes his attack.**

 **"HA!" The demi-saiyan yells, a rush of blue ki leaving his outstretched hands and heading towards Cell's. The attack is much smaller then the android's, but he knows that it is also much more powerful. It comes as no surprise to him when his attack collides with Cell's and starts pushing it back, as if he were rolling a ball down a hill. The demi-saiyan grins as he sees his attack engulf the terror known as Cell. The bio-android struggles helplessly as he tries, without success, to push the attack back. A scream erupts from the blast before an explosion rings out in the sky, lighting it up and creating a gigantic gust of wind that blows everyone else off of their feet.**

 **The boy smirks.**

 **That** ** _had_** **to hurt.**

 **And to think, it was the idiot's own stupidity that caused that chain of events. Really, Cell must have been completely and utterly desperate to think that would actually work. Has the moron not seen how far outclassed he is here? After all, Gohan's new super saiyan transformation is out of this world with power. Even after a blast like he just launched he's not the least bit winded. In fact, the chibi feels like he could go on for hours at this pace! Eventually, the dramatics in the sky calm down and the winds cease, allowing everyone that got knocked over back to their feet.**

 **He looks up towards where the explosion happened, and through the clearing smoke in the sky, he sees his enemy… or what's left of him. The bio-android is a complete mess at the moment, missing his entire right side of his body as well as the tips of the natural crown of his head. It appears as if the maniacal bastard is struggling just to hold himself in the air. He's shaking, most likely in pain, as he looks down at him. The amount of fear he sees in the green freak's eyes brings a certain sense of pride in him.** ** _He's_** **the one the most powerful super villain of all time is afraid of. The bastard is finally getting what he deserves.**

 **It's not like Gohan didn't warn him. He told him about this hidden power; the moron just didn't listen. Cell just had to make him angry by trying to torture him. And when that didn't work, the idiot sent out those freaky clones of his at the demi-saiyan's friends, many of whom he considers family, and even his own father. And if that was bad enough, that bastard killed the only being in the world that cherished life more than he and his father did.**

 **He killed Android Sixteen.**

 **The demi-saiyan snarls, clenching his fists at that thought. More sparks of blue electricity shoot off of his form at this, making the rocks within striking distance disintegrate at the touch of the deadly lightning. That green waste of life hasn't suffered** ** _nearly_** **enough yet! The menace in the sky hasn't even come close to the pain that the world felt by his own doing. Even though he knows that he could easily end that bastard's life at any moment with the weakened state that his enemy's in, Gohan wants to prolong the suffering long enough to make his hated opponent feel the pain that he caused.**

 **"Gohan! What are you waiting for?! Finish him off!"**

 **His frown deepens, turning towards the one who shouted that out: his father. His dad clearly must have picked up on the fact that he is far superior to Cell at this point and can finish him off, so why is he so worried right now? It's completely transparent that his father is up tight about something, but he doesn't know what it could be. There's no doubt in his mind that he has this fight in the bag, so what's the big deal if he makes the evil android suffer a little more?**

 **He tries to get this rather obvious point across to his father. "Finish him off?" He repeats his father's words. Turning his gaze back at the still shaking half-creature in the sky, he continues. "All in due time father. I will after he's suffered enough."**

 **"Wait… what?" He hears his father's reply. If he didn't have saiyan hearing he might not have, as it was barely a whisper.**

 **His gaze hardens as he glares at the suffering android, who is now trying desperately to gather enough ki to regenerate half of his body. "Cell has killed so many innocent people! He attacked you all when you guys weren't prepared to deal with it! He nearly killed everyone in the process! He even had the gauld to kill Android Sixteen, smashing his head right in front of my very eyes!" He growls at the memory that keeps coming back to him.**

 **"Gohan, I understand where you're coming from." He hears his father reply. This brings him back to the moment before he has a chance to get lost in the pain that that memory brings. "But you should still finish him off while you have the chance! We don't know what he can do if he gets desperate!"**

 **Turning his eyes back to the man he calls his father, he softens his gaze for a moment and gives his dad a smile. He really wants his father to know that he has everything in control, that after the android has suffered enough that he will put the freak out of his misery. "Don't worry Dad. I've got this covered. "**

 **He sees his father looking at him a bit apprehensively, looking to reply, but his attention is brought back to the sky as Cell screams out before regenerating his body. Bastard must have finally gathered enough ki. He frowns at that. The monster wouldn't be able to do that at all if it weren't for his mentor. He smirks a moment later however as he sees the fury building up in the bio-android's face. Yes, he will be able to really get under his enemy's skin by sending the freak of nature into a psychotic rage.**

 **"You!" Cell spits, shaking violently. He's obviously incredibly angry. "You will pay! I am the perfect warrior! The ultimate life form!" The android growls as his golden aura explodes around him and his ki starts to rise. He throws his arms above his head and screams out his fury to the heavens, making the pre-teen demi-saiyan raise his eyebrow. Cell's ki starts skyrocketing, increasing at a steady rate until it levels off at a level higher than that of a super saiyan at their max. However, the green menace's muscles have grown incredibly bulky, bulging out at an abnormal level.**

 **Gohan smirks. The lunatic may be stronger than he ever was before, but he also will not be able to touch him. His enemy's bulk will slow him down substantially. As soon as he finishes that thought, the terror of the Earth lands right in front of him. He's so large that the weight of his huge form makes a crater in the Earth.**

 **"Boy!" He shouts. Gohan winces uncomfortably. He's right in front of him. He didn't have to yell and make his ears bleed! "You will not defeat me," the insane android continues. The tone of his voice sounds much more feral than it did before. "Now witness my power!"**

 **Gohan sighs as Cell sends a punch that is strong enough to blast straight through Mt. Everest, but is as slow as molasses, at him. As he dodges the painfully slow shot, he decides to humor the villain, realizing that he could give the bastard a bit of mental suffering as he makes him realize how fruitless his efforts are. Cell continues to send him punch after punch, kick after kick, even throwing a few head-butts into the mix, all in an effort to wipe him off of the face of the Earth. Gohan merely dodges them all with ease.**

 **The increasingly delusional android continues on in this fashion, making Gohan sigh in annoyance at how boring this is starting to get. Sure, it was fun to watch this freak get so mad with rage at each missed punch in the beginning, but now it's just pathetically sad. The bastard is so blinded by his fury that he can't even see that all of his efforts are for nothing!**

 **Finally, after another fruitless round of combos from his increasingly insane opponent, Gohan blocks one of the bulky grasshopper's gigantic fists with his right palm. A loud thunder crack sounds out upon the contact before the demi-saiyan quickly takes advantage of his position and sweep kicks Cell across the face. This sends the stunned android across the battlefield, dazed. Not one to miss an opportunity to take advantage of a moment of weakness from his opponent, the demi-saiyan child phases over to his terrifying enemy and gives him an Earth-shattering sucker punch to the gut. A sonic boom echoes through the valley, the power behind the blow forcing the super villain known as Cell to bend over reeling, coughing up purple looking blood.**

 **In fact, Gohan notices that blood isn't the only thing the freak of nature seems to be coughing up.**

 **The demi-saiyan watches the scene with both disgust and intrigue as he notices Cell's body start to morph and change shape. The bastard looks as if he has a really bad case of food poisoning and is trying to keep his lunch down. It appears as though he hit the freak too hard. Gohan smirks darkly at that thought. That horrendous creation of Dr. Gero's is finally starting to feel true pain.**

 **Of course it's still not enough.**

 **The boy is interrupted from these vicious thoughts when Cell finally loses his battle with whatever he was fighting to keep down, regurgitating what appears to be… legs? Gohan blinks a few times to clear his vision, but sure enough, it appears as if Cell is vomiting up what appears to be a human being! This thought thoroughly disgusts the pre-teen, but he can't help but continue to observe with morbid fascination as the green bio-android continues to regurgitate what appears to be a human body before he's finally able to get rid of the foreign object completely.**

 **And what he sees makes his eyes widen, purely shocked.**

 **Cell just vomited up Android Eighteen!**

 **He looks down at the unfortunate android who is covered in bile, saliva, and blood before turning his attention back to Cell, eyes narrowing. The bastard looks to be undergoing some significant physiological changes now. He's probably reverting back to his second form without the female android powering his so-called 'perfect' form. His thoughts seem to be confirmed moments later as he is looking back into the face of a totally different Cell, one that he has never seen before. But one thing's for sure.**

 **The bastard sure got a heck of a lot weaker.**

 **Gohan frowns. Now this won't even be a challenge. Okay, so Cell wasn't a challenge at his best either, but this will be like fighting a baby! A very uncharacteristic sadistic smirk appears on the boy's face at this thought. Now the android will suffer even more! The thought pleases the pre-teen greatly. His bastard of an opponent will learn his place yet!**

 **He walks casually over to Cell, making sure to step over Android Eighteen as he makes his way to his opponent. He will deal with her later. Right now his focus is on the villain that dared to eradicate innocent lives, especially that of Android Sixteen. He chuckles darkly as his opponent backs away, forgetting to even hide his fear.**

 **"Yo-you're not a boy, you're a m-m-monster!" the bio-android stutters out, continuing to back away from the child.**

 **Gohan frowns, his face darkening instantly. "I'm the monster?" He states, growling at his opponent. "I'm not the one who killed millions of innocent lives purely for personal gain and universal domination! I'm merely the one who will put a stop to it all! I am the one who will put you in your place for all of your misdeeds!** ** _You're_** **the monster!" He growls once again before continuing his march.**

 **"S-stay back! Get a-a-away from m-me!" Cell continues to stutter. Gohan internally chuckles. He has the bastard right where he wants him now. He quickly phases right in front of Cell, making the android fall on his butt in shock and fear.**

 **"Make me," is the only thing that the demi-saiyan says before kicking Cell in the sky.**

 **And then the beating begins.**

 **Gohan quickly phases into the air, right above were the villain is headed. Apparently the bastard is too stunned by the hit to even try and take control of his flight. He comes right into the demi-saiyan's hitting range with his path unaltered. Gohan takes advantage by giving his opponent a devastating axe handle blow down towards the ground. The android flies downward in the exact opposite direction he was heading just moments before at a pace greater than the speed of sound, but Gohan doesn't let the freak off that easily. He instantly goes after his enemy, phasing just below where Cell is expected to hit, only to pound the bastard into the air again.**

 **Gohan smirks subconsciously, phasing up into the sky to repeat the cycle, and does this for a good while. The way that he keeps shifting the momentum of his mortal enemy so suddenly and with as much force as he is must be taking a huge toll on not only the bio-android's body, but the bastard's brain. He knows his basic biology and physics. The quick, sudden changes in direction must be making his brain smash against his skull multiple times, concussing him many more times over; this is probably one of the reasons the super villain hasn't even been able to react at all to the beating he is getting. If his brain isn't mush by now, then he doesn't know what he can do to make it mush.**

 **"Gohan!" The boy stops his tirade for the moment at the sound of that voice. Cell smashes into the ground for the first time since the bastard reverted back to his second form with a crash. "Finish him off now! There's no point in prolonging this any longer!"**

 **He looks over at his father, the one who screamed that. "Wait Dad," He yells back, trying to keep his anger out of his voice. He doesn't want to take it out on his father, but he seriously is starting to get annoyed. "He needs to suffer a little more. He caused too much pain and hurt, and now he's finally getting what he deserves!"**

 **"No Gohan!" His dad vehemently retorts. "He's suffered enough! He's suffered way too much in fact!"**

 **Gohan frowns. Does his dad seriously not get it? Cell needs to suffer! What happened to what his father was saying earlier about understanding where he was coming from? "He's suffered too much!?" He shouts back furiously. Multiple lighting bolts shoot off of his body. "After everything he did? No, he deserves to suffer more! He deserves to pay for his crimes!"**

 **"That's not for you to decide Gohan!" The demi-saiyan growls at that statement. If his father says one more thing he may have to go over there and shut him up. "That's King Yemma's job! He will get justice in the afterlife!" As he watches his father, he sees his face soften. "Gohan, this isn't like you!" The full-blooded saiyan continues. "I know you're not like this! You have too big of a heart to make someone suffer, even if they were a super villain!"**

 **Gohan notices his dad's voice had broken at that last statement, but he just continues to growl in irritation at the interruption. "Well, Cell's a special case!" He retorts back. He crosses his arms over his chest. "He deserves to suffer for all it's worth after what he did to everyone!"**

 **He then phases over to his father…**

 **And punches him in the gut.**

 **"And you, nor anyone else, is going to stop me until that bastard gets what he fully deserves."**

 **He walks back over to the defeated Cell, who still hasn't moved an inch since he got driven into the Earth earlier. But as he is about to continue where he left off, he hears the soft sound of crying from behind him. Curious, Gohan turns around, and his eyes widen to twice their size.**

 **His father is crying.**

 **This latest development is so amazingly stunning to the demi-saiyan that he completely forgets his mission to make his enemy suffer for all he's done for the moment. He's taken aback by how much pain he sees in his father's eyes. When he makes eye contact with the saiyan, the man he calls his father flinches slightly, as if scared of his son. And then, Gohan realizes something, something that hurts him more than any physical wound he's ever had before.**

 **He hit his father in a moment of rage.**

 **His father is scared of** ** _him_** **.**

 **Cell was right.**

 **He** ** _is_** **a monster!**

* * *

~Mount Paozu, 439 East Mountain District; Present Time~

Gohan will never forget what he did a month ago. He really was a monster, hell-bent on making his mortal enemy suffer for all it was worth. He knows that his father was right: Cell didn't deserve what he dished out to the android. Nobody in the universe deserved to suffer that much, especially at the hands of someone who is supposed to be pure of heart. But worse than that, he was so blinded by his rage that he didn't even care about his father's or anyone else's safety. If they were in the way of him achieving his goal, then they needed to be put in their place.

This is why he must stay away from his little sibling. He doesn't trust himself around them. He would be more of a danger to them than anything else if he were to lose it in their presence. Heck! Look at his father during the Cell games! If Gohan was willing to attack and hurt his strong, loving father when he was standing in his way, then imagine what could happen with his venerable little sibling.

No, he cannot get too attached to them. He's way too unstable and dangerous.

The child's eyes widen when he feels his father's ki start to chase after him. It's then that he realizes the way that he left his house. His eyes widen, the fact that his father will probably try to talk him into coming back hitting him. Panicking, he quickly transforms into a super saiyan and flies as fast as he can, knowing that he is still the fastest out of any one of the Z-fighters. At first, he feels himself pulling ahead of his father dramatically, making him relax a little.

That is before his father appears right in front of him.

Startled, the pre-teen yelps before coming to a stop right before he crashes into his father. Inwardly he curses his father for knowing how to do instant transmission. That's the only way his dad would have been able to catch up to him. He makes a mental note to himself to learn the incredibly useful technique when he gets the chance. It is also at this time that he realizes that his father also transformed into a super saiyan. He even appears to be quite winded, probably from all the effort he had to exert from trying to catch up to him. Gohan tries to take advantage of this observation by attempting to fly around his father. Unfortunately his dad is too quick, instead catching him in a fierce hug. He struggles for a moment before giving in and sighing. He knows escape is futile now.

"Gohan! What's gotten into you?" He can tell that his father is clearly worried by the way that his dad spoke. He instantly feels a bit guilty for worrying him, but he will still not risk hurting his sibling by being around in such an unstable state. "I thought you said that you wanted a little brother or sister, yet the moment you learn that you will get one you run away. What's wrong, little man?"

He flinches at the endearing title that his father only uses with him. He doesn't want to hurt him or make him worry anymore, so he decides to look up and tell him his fears. His father has always been able to read him like a book anyways. "Dad, I can't get attached to my little brother or sister. I'm… I'm too dangerous."

"What are you talking about son?" his father asks him, sounding very confused. He sighs, figuring that his dad wouldn't understand without an explanation.

"I'm too unstable Dad," he starts. "I don't trust myself to be able to be around my future sibling if I have a chance of turning into the monster I became at the Cell Games. If I get attached, then they have the chance of being hurt in the crossfire if I ever get angry again… it's better if they didn't even know me."

"Gohan, that's just not true—"

"But it is true!" Gohan retorts before his father can feed him crap that it's not. "Do you not remember what I was like during the Cell Games?! Do you not remember the way that I literally tortured Cell for as long as I possibly could? And do you not remember the way that I attacked you, my own father, when you were trying to persuade me otherwise!? Because I do!"

He quickly yanks himself out of his father's grip and turns away, hiding the tears that are starting to leak out of his eyes at the memory. He truly is ashamed of himself for what he became during the Cell Games. He can only imagine what his father was thinking at the time, but he's certain that he was afraid of him. That much he could tell from that one glance into his dad's eyes. Finally, he sighs, continuing where he left off in a much more dejected tone. "I can't allow myself to get close to anyone else, especially my future sibling, if I have the chance of becoming that monster again."

"Gohan that's enough!"

He turns around to face his father at that, and is shocked to see his dad giving him a fierce glare. "You are _not_ a monster! What happened at the Cell Games is over and done with! I had complete faith in you back then, and I have complete faith in you now. You are one of the purest souls in this universe son, and I know this from experience."

"But Dad, I attacked you!" He retorts instantly. "Not only that, but when I looked back at you, you seemed to be afraid of me!"

"No, you're wrong Gohan." His father counters. "Yes, you may have taken it too far back at the Cell Games, but I was never afraid of you. Shocked maybe, but I never feared you. In fact, I understand completely why you did what you did."

He continues to gape at his father, not really believing what he is hearing. "What?"

His dad sighs, shaking his head before floating closer to him and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Gohan, you were under so much stress during the games. You had to watch as the people you cared about greatly got hurt and beaten while not being able to do anything about it. I realize that if I had been in that same situation, I would have lost it too."

"R-really?" The child asks, once again stunned at what his father said. It almost sounds like his father is saying that he would have done the same thing that he did at the Cell Games, given that they switched roles.

"Yeah son," his father confirms. "When I saw what you went through on that battlefield, it reminded me of my own super saiyan transformation on Namek. I was so angry back then that all I wanted to do was make Frieza suffer for all that he did to everyone: the hundreds of Namekians, Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin, and you. In my rage, my only goal was to destroy him and make him suffer.

"Gohan, not only were you under even more pressure than I was at that time, but you also transcended into a new super saiyan form that no one has ever seen or experienced before. That, combined with the fact that you also are only eleven years old, and you get what happened a month ago. I really can't imagine what I would have done if I had been in your situation at your age, but I know that I would have reacted probably even _worse_ than you did."

"A-are you serious Daddy?" Gohan replies. He doesn't really know how to take this new information. He's not sure if he even believes what his father is saying.

"I'm dead serious son," his father replies. The way that his eyes look confirms to him that his dad is indeed telling the truth. "I would like to ask you this then. After telling you all of this, do you think that I am a danger to your unborn sibling?"

"No!" he answers immediately. His father dangerous? That has to be the most preposterous concept in the entire universe!

"But Gohan," his father answers. "I just told you that when I turned into a super saiyan that I made Frieza suffer in my rage and allowed him to destroy a planet in the process. I also told you that I would have done the same to Cell if I was in your shoes."

"But you never did that again, and you wouldn't ever do that again," the demi-saiyan replies instantly. He knows that his father may have made Frieza suffer in his rage, but he knows that he would never hurt him, no matter how angry he got. He knows that his father is a pure soul that wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, blinded by rage or not.

For some reason, his father smiles at his reply. "Exactly!" he states. His dad sounds incredibly proud of himself. "Son, if you don't think that I am dangerous when I basically did the same thing that you did, then you shouldn't think that you are dangerous either. I know that what you did at the Cell Games was not really you, and I know that the _real_ you would never let any harm come to your new sibling, the same way that I would never let any harm come to you!"

Gohan's eyes widen at the connection his father just made. He can't believe that he didn't see it earlier! His father just proved to him with irrefutable logic that he should be able to trust himself around his unborn brother or sister. He feels like he's been slapped in the face. He was about to run away from his little brother or sister due to the off chance that he got consumed by that rage that he felt at the Cell Games again. He knows though that if he has anything to do with it, that he will _never_ let that happen again. He can't believe he was about to abandon his little sibling!

What was he thinking?

"Dad… I'm sorry," the demi-saiyan apologizes, ashamed of what he was about to do. "I guess I was being really stupid huh…"

"No you weren't Gohan," his father replies. The older saiyan pulls him into another hug. He relishes the feeling that his father gives him in this embrace, and he finds himself relaxing as his father continues. "I understand why you must be so afraid of this new power of yours, and I know that you were trying to do what you thought was best for your little sibling. But Gohan, running away would not have solved anything. You still would be afraid of your powers, and you wouldn't have anyone to help you learn to control them. You are going to need to be able to control your new super saiyan form eventually. Besides," His father pauses He looks down at him, smiling. "I want you to try and feel your sibling's ki from inside you mother and tell me you don't want to be apart of their life."

He looks up at his father from his position in the man's arms. He believes that the ki inside of his mother is too small at this point to feel from this far away, but he gives it a shot anyways. He knows that he can sense his father from pretty much anywhere, so he knows that his senses are pretty strong. He lowers his head and closes his eyes, trying to focus on finding the precious ki signature of his little sibling. He becomes skeptical since he can barely feel his mother from where they are, but he finds her and tries to concentrate on picking up any other ki signatures in the area.

And then he feels it.

His eyes shoot open, and he looks as his father with his jaw dropped. The ki he feels from within his mother is not only extremely present, but he can also feel how incredibly pure and comforting it is. It must be the most pure ki he has ever felt! Not only that, but as soon as he felt the ki, he instantly felt a warm, tingly feeling well up inside of him. He knew right then that he has already fallen in love with the unborn child. It's absolutely absurd how he couldn't have felt this ki before!

"Dad… he's amazing!" He whispers, too in awe of the new life that is growing inside of his mother to speak any louder. He's also able to tell from the ki that the unborn child is going to be a boy! He's going to get a little brother!

His dad looks a little shocked for a moment, and Gohan isn't sure why that is, but he quickly replaces that expression with the grin that is all too familiar on his father's face. "See son? I knew you'd love him."

"Yes Dad, he feels incredible. I would never be able to not be in his life." He then gives his father what he hopes is a determined expression. "Dad, I promise you that I will do everything I can to protect my new brother, even if it means that I have to master my new super saiyan transformation." He means it too. He doesn't understand it, but by just feeling out his little brother to be's ki, he knows that he already loves the child more than anything, even his own father! There is no way that he will let himself fall into that rage again.

Not as long as he has his little brother to protect.


	3. Dichotomy

**A/N: Here is the latest installment for Courage! Unfortunately, I did not have the time to finish the next chapter yet since I have been studying all week (my MPJE exam is tomorrow... wish me luck!) and after my exam I will be going on a short vacation before continuing my study for my NAPLEX exam, which is on July 29th. Until after that exam, my writing will be a bit sporadic. I may or may not have the next chapter done by next week. Please bear with my for the foreseeable future in this regard.**

 **Now I hope this chapter makes up for any long wait I may have in the future. It is a big one at over 14,000 words. Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback as well as all of you who have favorited/followed this story even in its infancy! You guys rock!**

"Dialogue"

 _Thoughts/Mindscape_

 _"Telepathic communication"_

~Change in setting~

*Action*

 **Flashback/Dream sequence**

* * *

Chapter 2: Dichotomy

~Mount Paozu, 439 East Mountain District; September 20th, Age 767~

"Okay Mom! I'm going out with Dad!"

"Alright Gohan! Don't be too hard on them!"

The child nods, giggling to himself about what his mom said before blasting off into the air and towards where his father and mentor are. While his father may help him study the more interesting subjects, such as biology and chemistry, the older Saiyan flees for dear life at the mere mention of what he's had to study for the last week: Advanced Calculus; thus, his father decided to go off and train with Piccolo until he's finished with his studies of the dreaded math. This causes more giggles to come out of the chibi demi-Saiyan's mouth.

He still can't really believe that his mother is allowing him to train with his father and mentor. It just seems so different from the mother he's been used to for the past eleven years of his life that would always protest even the simplest forms of training. Now though, she seems to be completely different, allowing him the opportunity to train his new form in order to better protect the Earth.

Perhaps it's because she's finally getting proper treatment for her anxiety. After all, when she went to the doctor and found out she was pregnant, they did diagnose her with generalized anxiety disorder as well, and gave her some medication to treat it. He must say, it has been working wonders for her, at least from his perspective.

Or maybe his mother finally understands the importance of this training. She did see how he acted when he transformed to a super Saiyan 2 during the Cell Games thanks to Fortuneteller Babba. Perhaps his dad was able to convince her that he needed the training to prevent that from happening again.

Either way, he must say that he's incredibly thankful for her compliance. Not only is he getting stronger and more skilled as a fighter, but now when he does study he's motivated and not completely burnt out. This makes the time he does study much more enjoyable and efficient. He should definitely get her something to show his gratitude.

But for now, he needs to focus on his training. That's why he's out here flying in the first place: he's heading towards where his father and Piccolo are sparring. He knows that they are waiting for him to show up so that the real training can begin. This is training that the demi-Saiyan really needs too.

Gohan has learned from the Cell Games that reaching the next level of super Saiyan is much different than the first level. While in both transformations the Saiyan in question needs to be far above the normal limits of the form below it, they each have their own trigger in order to reach said form for the first time.

The one for the first super Saiyan transformation has been well known for a while now thanks to his father: the need for it, and more specifically, a defensive need for it. Gohan has figured out that this need can be to protect one's self, as Vegeta transformed from the need to protect himself on that asteroid while training in space. However, most of the time, the need is to protect others. His dad transformed in response to the need to protect the galaxy from Frieza; Mirai Trunks transformed in response to protect his timeline from the androids; Gohan himself transformed from the need to protect his family and friends from Cell.

The child also knows that there is a second part of this trigger too, and that is the absence of desire. One simply cannot transform into a super Saiyan out of pure want, and the desire for the transformation must not be there if the transformation is to occur. Vegeta and Trunks were both perfect examples of that concept.

All of this has been common knowledge within their group of Z-fighters for a while now, but this new transformation is still not. It took Gohan a while to realize it, but he now knows that the trigger for the second super Saiyan transformation consists of both of the elements of the prior with one additional caveat:

Emotional fury.

One thing he has realized is completely different with his new super Saiyan transformation than it was in his first one is that he needs to get much angrier to get to it. Once he's there, this fury that he experiences overtakes him, and in turn, makes him arrogant. He doesn't know why the fury is necessary for this transformation. The most plausible reason that he's theorized is that when he gets angry is also when he gets much more powerful. Perhaps he needs to get angry in order to supply enough ki as the activation energy to push himself over the edge and transform.

One thing he knows for sure though is that in that form, he is insanely powerful. It's almost ridiculous how much stronger he is when transformed into a super Saiyan 2. It surprises him because he's the only one that can actually get to this transformation. The chibi still hasn't gotten over the fact that he is grossly stronger than even his father, and while this fact makes him proud, it also terrifies him.

Having the title of the strongest fighter in the world was never something that he really wanted. For the most part, he has never enjoyed fighting in the first place, let alone fighting battles for the fate of the Earth. As the world's strongest warrior, the burden of protecting of the Earth lies on his shoulders now. If he were to fall, no one else would be strong enough to take his place.

This isn't what terrifies him about his power though. No, that would have been his fear before the Cell Games. Before the dreaded games, he truly didn't enjoy fighting. Before the dreaded games he wasn't the strongest fighter. But now, not only has become the strongest, but he finds himself actually enjoying himself when fighting. Those dreaded games changed everything.

And that is what truly terrifies Gohan about his power.

After the Cell Games, the demi-Saiyan noticed that he actually started craving for battle; he wanted to fight like never before. This really confused him until his dad told him that he wanted to train him to control his super Saiyan 2 form. That first training session, he transformed easily enough, and then he finally understood what was going on.

It was his new transformation.

Something about the super Saiyan 2 transformation changed his outlook on fighting. His power brought out a savage side of him that he never even knew he had. His lust for battle kept on growing and growing until it all came out during his transformation. The thing that truly terrifies him about that though is that even when he's not transformed in his new super Saiyan form, he still has that thirst for battle, that lust for fighting. It scares the crap out of him that this transformation has the power to actually change his entire personality. He hates that it has so much power over him.

This is one of the reasons he is reluctant to train this new form. He's fearful that if he gets more powerful that his power will change him even more. He is afraid that he might turn more and more like the Saiyan that Vegeta is than the carefree, lover of life that he sees himself as. If this power can make him actually enjoy fighting when he previously would have shied away from battle, then what other things could change?

Unlike what his father and mentor think, he is well aware of what is going on when he transforms. He knows that he becomes an arrogant prick on a power high when he transforms. The worst part about it though is he had no way of stopping himself from becoming this way. It was as if he was trapped in his own mind while a more violent, savage part of himself that he never even knew he had taken over and controlled his actions. This is what scares him the most about this transformation since he's fighting his father and mentor, and although the few times that he actually had transformed during their spars he was able to stop himself before he went over the edge, he still fears that time when he won't be able to stop himself.

And that is the reason he had never wanted to transform again. His father and mentor would always try to push him to transform, whether it be through words of insult or though physically giving him a beating until the need to transform would arise. They would try as hard as they could to make him transform into a super Saiyan 2, but his resolve was always stronger. He never wanted to transform again if it made him hurt his family.

However, that all changed when he felt his little brother for the first time.

It's been three months since that fateful day where he flew off after his mother told him and his father that she was pregnant. During this time, his unborn brother made him realize that while he may be afraid of his new powers, that he needs to work on controlling them, if not for the protection of the planet as a whole, then for the protection of his friends and family too.

And especially this brand new, precious life.

So, ever since that fateful day, the chibi has gone out of his way to make sure that he practices his super Saiyan 2 form as much as he can. Before he would have been reluctant, fearing the consequences that could possibly come from the form. Now though, even though he's still terrified every time he goes to the next level, he's determined to stick through it. This determination has helped out immensely. He has embraced the challenge of trying to control that form, and he is completely confident that he will be able to control himself in that form very soon.

Before he really didn't have much control over what he was doing in the super Saiyan 2 transformation. Over the past three months, he has figured out a secret about gaining some control: he needs to calm himself. However, actually doing that has been extremely hard for the demi-Saiyan. Every time he transforms into a super Saiyan 2, a wave of rage immediately floods his system, even if he hadn't been angry beforehand. It makes sense to him since that is one of the triggers to the transformation in the first place. But that's not the only reason it's so hard to control.

Every time he transforms, he feels trapped within his rage, and this feeling of self-entrapment scares him. His first instinct is to fight and try to escape, but he has come to realize that the only way to gain some semblance of control over this form is to accept this rage as part of the transformation and allow it to wash over him by separating himself from it. In order to do this, he needs to somehow provide a strong positive emotion that will act as a barrier between him and his rage. This allows him to separate his emotions into much more manageable parts and calm down while transformed. His mind is then able to disperse the false rage from the transformation that was necessary to provide the ki to activate it without him actually loosing the ki, giving him complete control over the power.

Gohan has found fighting this natural panicking instinct he feels once he first transforms to be the biggest challenge in overcoming his lack of control. In the ascended super Saiyan state, he really has a difficult time finding any sort of comfort or sense of calm in order to provide the barrier between the false and real emotions. It seems like all of his emotions go all over the place which only makes him work himself up more and giving the latent instincts of the transformation more control.

Luckily for the demi-Saiyan though, this is no longer a problem.

He discovered it one of the first days after he ran off. He was sparring with Piccolo and his father. They, of course, were both double-teaming him as usual, and finally pushed him to transform. Immediately he was flooded with the familiar rage and his super Saiyan 2 form started retaliating to his father and mentor's moves while he tried desperately to gain control. He was already determined, and his determination helped him a little, but he still wasn't making much progress as his rage continued to prove just too much for him to handle. He was starting to realize that controlling this beast might be over his head, but he didn't want to give up, so he tried something he didn't do before:

He felt out for his father's ki.

Gohan did it on a whim. His father has always been able to help make him feel better when he is upset. The demi-Saiyan has always found a great sense of peace and comfort whenever his dad is around. And that proved to be true in this situation as well. As soon as he specifically locked on his father's ki, a sense of tranquility came over him and he was suddenly able to take control of his emotions, allowing him for the first time to actually fight at will in his super Saiyan 2 form! Sure, the anger was still there, but it wasn't completely overwhelming anymore, and after a few more moments of feeling out for his father's ki, it had diminished to the point where it was only a light irritation.

From that point forward, he knew the secret of controlling himself: calming himself using his special bond with his father. The sense of calm that he gets from his father is so strong that it even penetrates a rage that is as deeply rooted as that of his super Saiyan 2 transformation. It isn't a permanent fix though, as he eventually needs to be able to separate his rage completely instead of ignoring it. This has been proven by the fact that he will still eventually loose control the longer he holds the transformation. Not only that, but if he doesn't immediately focus on his father, his rage will overwhelm him almost immediately.

However, this may be the starting point to giving him enough time to train himself to separate this rage, and he knows that he is getting close to figuring out that part. As a result, Gohan's confidence in his new form has grown exponentially over the past three months and he really has been getting better and better at controlling his power.

The training of his ascended super Saiyan form has been incredibly beneficial to increasing his power as well. The more control he gains over the super Saiyan 2 transformation, the longer he can hold the form. But not only that, like his first super Saiyan form, the more control he has over the form, the stronger he gets too. He has theorized that this is because he has much more control over the flow of the ki in the transformation, and in turn, he can use it more efficiently and effectively.

"Woah!"

He barely dodges in time as a ki blast flies right past his face and hits the ground a second later, letting off a small explosion. That was a wake up call! The ki blast wasn't that powerful, but it shocked him nonetheless. He yelps again before dodging a couple more ki blasts that fly right at him before taking cover in the forest below him. For a moment, his onyx eyes narrow in concentration, searching for the origin of these blasts. After a moment of searching, he lets out a sigh of relief at seeing that it's just his father and Piccolo sparring. He didn't think that he traveled that far already, but apparently he was flying faster than he thought he was. Dang power boost!

This has actually been happening to him a lot recently. As his strength is starting to increase again after starting to gain control of his super Saiyan 2 powers, he has been noticing that it takes even less effort to do things he could do easily before, such as flying at high speeds. As a result, he can fly at higher speeds more comfortably, and thus doesn't even notice that he's going faster when he's not paying attention since he using the same effort that he was before.

What this means is that he's early for his training session.

He debates with himself whether or not he wants to join them yet. After all, they aren't expecting him for another 20 minutes or so. After a moment of contemplation, he decides to hide his ki level and watch the spar from where he is. He may be more powerful than both adults, but he pales in comparison to them when it comes to fighting experience. At this point he'd probably get more out of watching his father's amazing ingenuity and his mentor's genius strategy at work than getting an extra 20 minutes of physical training in. Besides, the match is entertaining!

He grins in anticipation. It appears as though he came at the right time as his father has already transformed and his mentor discarded his weighted clothing. His dad throws a punch at the Namekian's chest only for Piccolo to block with his right arm. A commanding boom sounds from the blow before his mentor counters with a jab to the Saiyan's side with his free fist. That blow too is blocked, but this time by his father lowering his free arm. After a moment's stare down, they vanish into super speed, starting to up the ante even further. Gohan can't help but grin wider as he looks up, his eyes darting back and forth following their movements with ease despite how fast they both are moving.

Gohan lets out a small cheer when he sees his father finally land a hit on his mentor: a fierce right hook into Piccolo's hip. The Namekian grunts out pain, but expertly regains his defense as he dodges a kick to his head that would have certainly been a crippling blow. The demi-Saiyan's father flies past him as a result, his forward momentum that he put into that kick carrying him along. Gohan's first teacher quickly counters by shooting pencil thin ki lasers out of his eyes right at the off balance Saiyan's backside, making the Earth-raised alien yelp out in pain and grab his butt comically. As his mentor smirks wryfully, Gohan bursts out laughing at the scene, not able to hold it in after seeing his father dance around midair like a silly monkey.

"Ah!"

*Crack! Crunch… crunch… crackle…*

*Boom!*

"…owie."

Gohan suddenly finds himself face down in the leaf-filled forest floor after taking a surprise ki blast to his face. The blast didn't hurt him much, but the after shock of the blast forced the tree branch he was sitting on to break. Not only that, the ki blast caught him completely off guard, making him fall through a few more of the branches of the tree before crashing into the ground with a rather painful 'thud' before he could regain control of himself. He pushes himself up so that he's now in a sitting position, picking off a few leaves that stuck to his face before glaring at the perpetrator of the surprise attack… or at least in the general direction of him as he can't actually see him.

"That was a cheap shot Mr. Piccolo!"

The demi-Saiyan hears dry chuckling from above before the resident green man finally comes into his view. "It's your own fault kid," his mentor replies. "I could hear you laughing like a hyena from a mile in the sky. You were asking for it, trying to keep yourself hidden and making us believe you weren't here yet."

"Yeah Gohan, what gives?!" another voice adds, and Gohan looks to his mentor's left to see his father float down next to his former enemy. "If you were here, why didn't you join us? We could have been training already and I could have avoided getting hit with those incredibly cheap eye lasers of Piccolo's"

The chibi demi-Saiyan giggles a bit at his father's last statement, but eventually controls himself and looks at both of his teachers. "I'm sorry guys," He answers sheepishly. "I just wanted to watch your match and learn from you both via observation." And have some fun watching his dad make a fool out of himself. Seriously, his dad gets himself into the most hilarious predicaments when sparring for fun. That's what makes the full-blooded Saiyan so entertaining to watch! "Common!" He adds, seeing his mentor looking at him questionably. "You know how well I can learn when I watch you guys do something."

His mentor still looks at him skeptically, but before the Namekian can retort, his father walks over and picks him up, putting him on his shoulders. Gohan giggles a little more, for once feeling his age at this gesture. He looks down at his father from his perch, grinning a thousand watt smile. He loves it when his dad does this.

"I know you do little man," his father answers him, now looking up at him. The demi-Saiyan can see the soft smile on his father's face and knows right away that his father believes what he's saying. "It's how you got so good at fighting so quickly! I know I wasn't even a tenth as skilled as you are when I was your age." For some reason, Gohan sees his father's expression drop a bit at that statement, but it's gone quickly, replaced with a beaming smile once again. "You really are something else son!"

He blushes a bit at that praise from his father, looking down sheepishly. "Thanks Dad," he responds in kind.

His father nods at him. "It's the truth." Gohan smiles at his father, his cheeks still a gentle hue of pink before looking across from his perch just in time to see his mentor roll his eyes at him, most likely from impatience.

"Whatever Gohan," the green-man retorts. "Now if you two are done here, lets get to what we actually came here to do: train."

Gohan looks down at his father from his position on said man's shoulders before grinning at his mentor and hopping off. He does a backflip before landing on the ground a few yards back right into a perfect Namekian style martial arts stance. He soon drops his grin and his face turns serious, preparing for this upcoming spar, a spar in which he hopes to finally gain control of his newest transformation. His father soon takes a position next to his opponent, dropping into his own version of the Kame style stance.

The chibi grunts, gathering his ki and transforming into a super Saiyan instantly. His hair turns a bleached blond color and his eyes a vibrant teal. No aura accompanies the young prodigy, showing just how much at ease he is with this form. He has a complete mastery of the transformation only equaled by his father. Speaking of his father, he's already transformed as well, still from his spar before, and both he and his mentor seem to be rearing to go.

Gohan tenses as he feels a shift in the air, and instantly moves as a green fist flies by striking the area he just vacated. The demi-Saiyan quickly raises his arm to block another shot, this time by his father, aimed right at his chest. The fighting continues as the experienced duo of former-enemies-turned-allies work together to break his defense, something that he is trying his hardest to keep up. He expertly counters the offensive brought about by two of the most powerful warriors in the universe, grunting at the great difficulty the task entails.

Eventually the spar gets taken to the air, all three fighters now starting to get into a groove. Gohan remains defensive against the onslaught brought about by his father and mentor, still not having the opportunity to even slightly go on the offensive. He grimaces at that thought. If this keeps up, then he will have absolutely no chance in winning this spar. Of course the point of this whole thing is to push him into using his new form, but Gohan still wants to avoid that route for as long as possible.

But even so, after ten more minutes of sparring, the demi-Saiyan feels himself getting more and more banged up. Piccolo and his father are starting to break his defense. He painfully admits to himself that fatigue is really starting to set itself in. He inwardly groans as he realizes that he won't be able to hold back any longer if he wants to come out if this spar in somewhat decent shape, so he reluctantly concedes to the need for more ki.

 _"Goku! Are you there Goku!"_

Startled, Gohan pauses at the sudden—and desperate—shout out to his father, looking around to see who it could be since he never heard that voice before, only to get brutally drilled in the temple by a punch of Piccolo's. Completely disoriented by the ferocity of the blow, he yelps in pain, heading straight towards the forest.

*Crash!*

Okay… that blow hurt so much worse than his fall before. He tries to raise his head only for his vision to become blurry. His ears are still ringing from that hit, and he still has no clue what is going on. The last thing he sees before his vision turns to black is a green and purple blur heading towards him, with a flash of orange and gold following.

* * *

"Piccolo! What was that for!?"

"Hey! It's not my fault that that stupid Kai's call distracted him so much that he completely lowered his guard! Besides, I was already mid punch when it happened!"

Goku pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance at his former enemy's excuse for knocking his son out cold. As much as he wants to be mad at the aloof Namekian however, he knows that what Piccolo is saying is indeed correct. There's no way that either of them could have predicted that King Kai would contact him at that exact moment, or that Gohan would completely lose his guard when it happened. That is no reason to hold this against him.

Of course he doesn't blame his son either. It's not like getting a telepathic distress call from the ruler of the galaxy all the way from Other World happens everyday. The boy must have been confused as heck at who could have possibly been calling for him, not to mention the pure desperation that the North Kai had in his voice.

The full blooded Saiyan sighs, settling on running his hand through his son's thick ebony hair while anxiously waiting for him to wake up in an effort to calm his nerves a little. The news that King Kai brought was definitely unsettling. Apparently Frieza had been training a great deal in Hell, becoming incredibly more powerful as a result. This however wasn't really an issue until Cell came into the picture. According to the blue, cat-fish looking Kai, the bio-android had lived up to his namesake, the Saiyan cells within him giving the evil green grasshopper a dramatic power boost once he arrived in Hell…

And the combination of the efforts of the two super villains led them to break out of Hell and wreak havoc among the rest of Other World.

Of course the Heavens weren't going to stand down and let Cell and Frieza get away with that. He had been informed through the blue deity that all of the best warriors of all time are attempting to fight the duo as they were speaking, but it sounded really bad. Apparently only two fighters were able to keep up with the diabolical enemies, both struggling to go toe to toe with Cell and Frieza.

Going back to the reason for the call in the first place. King Kai had requested that both he and Gohan go up to Other World and help them deal with the situation as soon as his son wakes up. This had confused the full-blooded Saiyan for a minute since he is alive, and therefore doesn't have a way of getting to Other World, the land of the deceased. Even with his instant transmission technique, he couldn't cross the barrier between the two planes, at least not normally. The Kai however had assured him that they (the four lower Kais and the Grand Kai) would allow a brief window in which he could use the Yardrattian technique to get there, give him and his son protection from the atmosphere while they are there, and then allow them back to the living realm once finished with the threat.

He's still confused on how that will work…

But, Goku has no choice but to trust his quadrant's deity. After all, what would be the blue Kai's point in lying to him? He sighs once more, running his hands through his child's hair even more quickly now. If what King Kai says is indeed true, then both he and his son will have their work cut out for them. He's pretty certain that he could still take down Frieza, as he himself has gotten significantly stronger since their last battle as well; but if Cell got that much stronger since being killed, then he knows that Gohan will have to be the one to fight him. The chibi is the only one strong enough to take the evil android down, and that would only be in his son's new super Saiyan form.

He frowns at that thought, looking down as his son's currently peaceful looking face. As proud as he is about his son's amazing talent and strength when it comes to fighting, he never wanted his son to fight this much for his life. It has been nothing but constant life or death battles for the chibi ever since his son turned four years old. Inwardly he curses himself for allowing this to happen. What kind of father is he!? Not only has he failed to protect his son from this harsh lifestyle, but now he's relying this young boy solely to once again fight a great evil, this time to protect all of Other World. He feels like such a failure as a parent!

Closing his eyes, he shakes his head. It's too late now to turn back. His son is now a warrior, and a damn good one too! Gohan is too much of an asset to not fight in important battles. Opening his eyes and looking at his son, who seems to be finally stirring from his unconscious daze, the Saiyan father becomes incredibly determined. Even if his son is now stronger than him, he will not let anything happen to him. He will die before he lets his son get severely hurt!

That is a fact!

He hears a groan come from his son and instantly focuses all of his attention on the chibi. A soft tap from behind and to his left indicates that Piccolo also has noticed Gohan is coming to and he dropped out of his meditative pose. Slowly, the demi-Saiyan opens his eyes, and Goku can still see a hazed look in them, as if just waking up from a deep sleep.

Rubbing his head where he got punched, the chibi lets out another groan. "…Did someone get the license plate on that semi…"

Goku lets out a hearty chuckle at that, and he swears that he saw a smirk make its way onto Piccolo's face too. "I think it was P-I-C-C-O-L-O," He answers mid-chuckle, earning a growl form his former enemy and a few giggles from his son. He smiles even more at that. Gohan's laugh is like music to his ears; he absolutely loves it. It's one of the reasons he tries his hardest to make his son laugh as often as he can. This feat is, unsurprisingly, not that hard to do.

Unfortunately though, time is of the essence at the moment, at least according to King Kai, so he tries to put on a serious face and address his son about the current issue at hand. "Sorry to throw this at you so soon after you just recovered from a brutal hit son, but we need to get moving as soon as possible."

Immediately his son's faces drops into a hardened expression, one that leaves the father in wonder. It's incredible how Gohan can be so at ease and laid back one minute, and then serious the next. Even though he's only in an eleven-year-old body, if one were to look at his face, they would think that they were looking at an adult. Just another reminder of how grown up the demi-Saiyan is. "What is it Dad? Does it have to do with that voice that interrupted our spar? It sounded so worried!"

Goku nods in confirmation of his son's thoughts, glad he doesn't need to explain too much to the chibi. "You're right little man. That voice was King Kai, and he was worried because there's a rebellion in Other World, led by Cell and Frieza."

"But I thought they were both in Hell!" his son quickly retorts.

"They were, but they were able to escape somehow," he explains. "King Kai said that he didn't know how they did, but the fact is those two are up to no good in Upper Heaven and we need to stop them as soon as we can."

For some reason, his son smiles at this. "That shouldn't be too much of a problem. Both of us are stronger than them now."

He frowns at that. He realizes that his son doesn't know how much stronger the two villains got. "Actually Gohan, King Kai told me that they are both much stronger now than when they died. Frieza apparently has been doing some hard core training in Hell during this time. According to King Kai, he's about as strong as Cell was when he died, meaning that I will have my hands full with Frieza. Cell on the other hand gained an incredible power boost from when he died, thanks to the Saiyan cells he has. That means you are probably the only one who can beat him."

He internally winces at seeing his son's expression drop at that. He hates killing his son's good mood, but it's important that he understands the seriousness of the situation. He quickly shakes off the thought that this is another one of those situations that someone Gohan's age shouldn't even be in. He doesn't need that at the moment.

"And the only way I will be able to beat him is if I transform again… right?" The chibi asks him.

He nods his head once more in confirmation. "That's right son," he answers hesitantly. He knows that his son still isn't fully over the fear of going to that level. However, he puts on what he hopes is a confident look. His son has been so much better at controlling himself lately, and he has no doubt that the chibi will do fantastic this time around. "Now Gohan, we've been training you for the past few months on this new super Saiyan form and I feel confident that you are ready to use it for real."

His son looks at him, seeming hesitant. "Are you sure Dad?"

This time he gives the young savior a smile and nods without hesitation. "Yes I am son! I have the utmost confidence in you, and I'm sure Piccolo does too!" He looks over his shoulder at the tall Namekian. "Right Piccolo?"

Much to his delight, the green man smirks and gives a nod of assurance. "That's right kid, you'll do great. Now go up there and kick Cell's ass!"

That seems to do the trick as it brings forth a few of those musical laughs from his son. Now grinning at his two trainers, the chibi demi-Saiyan gives a thumbs up. "Alright, if you both think I can do it, then I'll give it my best. I guess I could think of this as my final test for gaining control of this new form."

"Yeah, that's a good way to think of it Gohan!" the Saiyan father quickly encourages. "This really is a good opportunity for you to train yourself as a super Saiyan 2." He makes his way to his feet, pulling his son up with him. "Alright little man! Lets go up and save Other World!"

"Yeah!" The demi-Saiyan yells, nodding at him.

Smiling, he puts his index and middle fingers to his forehead in preparation of instant transmission. However, he first turns to his Namekian ally. "Are you going to the Lookout? We'll meet you there when we're done. I'm sure you and Dende will want a briefing on how everything went."

His former enemy merely grunts before nodding.

Figuring that that will be about the best he will get out of the stoic Namekian, he nods in return, looking down at his son one more time, getting a grin in return. Smiling to himself, he concentrates on the ki that King Kai told him to and disappears.

* * *

~North Snake Way, Upper Heaven, Other World~

*Bang! Boom! Rumble…*

*KABOOM!*

He winces, watching the destruction going on all around him. His antennae twitch in annoyance, searching once more for his greatest student and his son.

 _What is taking Goku so long!?_ He silently seethes, unconsciously pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. _It's been five minutes since I've contacted him!_

Sighing in frustration at the fact that Goku still isn't here yet, he turns in the direction where the latest explosion happened. He can't help but whimper in sadness. Cell had just thrown an incredibly powerful special beam cannon at Pikkon, and fortunately the bio-android missed his mark; however, the attack instead hit the incredibly dense planet that he lives on, in effect destroying his home.

 _And I just got done paying it off too…_

"Northie! Where are those Earth warriors that you called? The warriors that killed them in the first place?!"

Startled by the voice, yet fully recognizing who it is, he quickly turns towards the speaker and gives him his full attention. The Grand Kai is one person that he doesn't want disrespect. Going into a bow, he answers, "Goku and Gohan should be here any second Grand Kai. I had called them in the middle of one of their spars and unfortunately, it startled Gohan so much that he lost his guard and got knocked out by the subsequent punch. They are just waiting for him to recover and they should be here!"

The blue deity sweats a little as his superior narrows his eyes at him. "Are you sure that this 'Gohan' can take on this challenge if he is able to be distracted so easily that he can be knocked out like that?"

"I think that Northie here is just bluffing Your Greatness," another voice weighs in. The blue deity of the North immediately glares at the new person. Of course West Kai just had to add his input. The short purple god of the West immediately glares back at him. "After all, I have a hard time believing that anyone that he could bring here could beat that android if my Pikkon is having this hard of a time against him."

"What do you know you, shrimp!" he immediately retorts. He glares hatefully at the West Kai. Taking a breath to regain his composure, he turns back to the Grand Kai. "I assure you, Your Greatness, that both Goku and Gohan can handle their own in a battle. Both are incredibly strong, particularly Gohan. When transformed, that kid's ki makes Cell's look like a joke."

Grand Kai looks at him skeptically once again, while that dumb West Kai bursts out laughing at that. King Kai immediately glares even more forcefully at the shorter Kai. "Wow," the deity of the West breathes out in between laughs. "Now I know that you are bluffing! There's no way that a mere kid can be stronger than Pikkon! Not even Olibu can beat him, and he's the only other warrior that is even close!"

King Kai decides to ignore the insults for once, knowing that he'll see what he's talking about shortly.

…that is if they show up anytime soon!

He sighs, turning his attention once more to his surroundings. The battles are getting even more intense now, fierce blows booming in the periphery akin to a mass bombing. He admits that Frieza and Cell are incredibly impressive to be able to keep up with their respective opponents.

Frieza's opponent is his best warrior, and the second strongest and skilled warrior in all of Other World: the human Olibu; yet, the former galactic tyrant is dealing with him like a pro. The fight appears to be evenly matched, yet he is shocked to find that Frieza actually has the upper hand on the North's best deceased warrior. It seems that fatigue is really starting to show on his student while the evil overlord has barely lost his breath.

And then there's Cell and Pikkon. As much as he doesn't want to admit it, West Kai definitely has a reason to brag when it comes to the finest warrior of the West. Pikkon has proven to be the strongest warrior in all of Other World, with skills to back up his title of best overall warrior. However, even this amazing fighter is having great difficulty against the newly reborn Cell. Somehow Cell regained his perfect form, even with the absence of both androids Seventeen and Eighteen. Not only that, but he is so much stronger than he was before that he is able to fight blow for blow with Pikkon, something that not many can do. Even worse, like Frieza, he actually has the upper hand against the legendary warrior. It's terrifying, yet amazing at the same time how powerful the green bug has gotten.

However, as strong as the two villains are proving to be, he still has confidence that Goku and Gohan will be able to beat them. Goku has grown strong enough training with his son and Piccolo that he should be able to handle Frieza, while Gohan should have no problem dealing with Cell whatsoever as long as he ascends again.

He sweats a little at that thought, remembering back to the chibi when he was fighting Cell before. He only hopes that the kid will be able to control it this time.

* * *

~The Lookout, Planet Earth~

Dende looks down towards the Earth, eyes closed and hands spread, keeping an eye on the events of everyday life. Although he's still quite new at this job, he actually finds feeling out the actions of the humans to be quite easy despite hearing that this is one of the more difficult aspects of his duties. The trick is to not look down to the Earth with his eyes, as he would only see the clouds of the sky that way. Instead, he needs to feel out the kis of every person in a certain direction, repeating this process about fifteen minutes every direction. This allows him to get a lock on the kis in that area for a period of 24 hours. The young Guardian finds that by putting about an hour of effort into feeling the kis of Earth, he can obtain a good picture of all of the people on the planet for a whole day, allowing him to know if there is something is wrong almost immediately as it happens without needing to fully concentrate on feeling it out.

Perhaps he is a natural at being a Guardian, just like Elder Murray said.

Although right now it's kind of difficult to concentrate…

While he doesn't know what exactly is taking place in this moment in Other World, he is well aware of what is going on in the plane of the deceased. The ever bothersome Frieza has managed to break out of Hell with the help of the tyrant's new acquaintance Cell, both powerful beyond belief. The villains were so powerful that this quadrant's Kai had to contact him and ask for two of his warriors to fight the diabolical duo.

Those warriors happen to be his best friend and his best friend's father.

The Guardian paces around the edge of the Lookout to look at another area of Earth. He tries to drown out his worries with the docile lives of the civilians of the North side of the Earth. He takes a deep breath before attempting to concentrate on his godly task, but again finds his concentration slipping him.

He knows that Goku is incredibly strong, and that Gohan is in a league of his own when it comes to his ki, but apparently their opponents are vastly stronger as well. He knows that Cell and Frieza are the only two beings in the universe that can make Goku lose his calm demeanor. This is something that the young Guardian personally hasn't witnessed, but has heard about from his best friend. He's well aware that the normally kind hearted Saiyan can be downright brutal when angered. But as much as that worries him, something else has him even more worried.

And that is Gohan's new transformation.

His best friend is probably the kindest, most caring and gentle person that he has ever met, even more so than his father. Dende also believes that Gohan is one of the strongest beings in the universe. This has caused quite a dichotomy in the life of his best friend, as he knows that Gohan isn't a warrior at heart. Yet as of late, he has seen that the young demi-Saiyan has been changing. His best friend has been training more and more with his father and Piccolo. This is something that normally wouldn't worry the young Namekian much since he agrees with them about the fact that Gohan should train to learn how to control that new transformation.

But then, that's exactly the thing that worries him so much. They know very little about this new transformation, and the only one with any experience with using it is an eleven-year-old boy. Not only that, but from the only experiences that Gohan has had using this transformation, his best friend becomes wrathful, vengeful, unforgivingly harsh; it's as if the transformation has a personality of its own.

Thats why it has been so nerve-wracking for the young Guardian to watch his friend. While he knows its incredibly important to train the transformation, it's also so mind-numbing to see what his best-friend has to go through when he actually does transform. It was so hard for Gohan at first, but thankfully the discovery of his little brother seems to have been the turning point. Since then, Gohan has not only been more willing to train the form, but has been actually handling the transformation much better ever since the discovery. That little tyke has already been helping his big brother, and the child is not even born yet! He briefly wonders just how close those two will be in the future.

The small smile that formed from that thought fades though as he remembers why he is so worried in the first place. Sure, Gohan has been much better controlling the form as of late, but the young demi-Saiyan still has a ways to go before he has complete control. The young Guardian has noticed some lapses in his best friend's ki when training the form even still. Furthermore, Gohan has not been up against an infuriating force such as Cell using the transformation since his last battle with the bio-android.

And he remembers quite clearly how that turned out.

The young Guardian sighs, trying to gain the lock on the kis of the North, but without much luck. He really shouldn't be worrying so much about this. Gohan is amazing, and has yet to let him down. He should have more faith in his best friend and trust that he will win no problem.

Then how come he has this sinking feeling about him in his chest?

"You're lucky that the Earth is still recovering from Cell, or you might have missed something, Dende."

The young Namekian has the decency to blush at his mentor's words as he turns to him. He looks up at the former Guardian of the Earth, rubbing the back of his head in a gesture he picked up from his best friend. "Sorry Piccolo," he meekly replies, dropping his arm from the back of his head and sighing. "I'm just not able to concentrate with everything going on right now."

"You mean with Gohan and Goku in Other World?"

"Yeah…" The young Guardian sighs again, turning back towards the edge of the Lookout. "I'm just worried about what gonna happen to Gohan in his battle with Cell."

Silence rings throughout the Lookout for a moment before he hears Piccolo make his way over to stand next to him. He then feels a weight on his shoulder, and realizes that it is Piccolo's much larger hand. "Gohan will be fine Dende," his mentor comforts him, forcing him to look up. The larger Namekian is still looking straight ahead, as if trying to concentrate on the blue skies in front of him. "You've seen his progress as much as I have. He is ready for this test."

The young Guardian turns his gaze forward. "I know Piccolo, I know he's gotten much better at controlling it. And I also know that if anyone can tame that beast it's him." He then looks back up at his mentor, making the larger Namekian meet his gaze. "I just have a bad feeling that he might relapse to what he was before because it's Cell he's fighting, not you or Goku…"

The young Namekian turns his body so that he's now completely facing his mentor. "Cell might be the only one in this whole universe that can actually get him angry without trying, and I fear what Gohan will do in that state when he's under such fury already from the nature of the transformation."

"I admit that I cannot say that I don't share your concern, Dende," Piccolo reveals. This only confirms to Dende that his worries are legitimate. "However," his mentor continues, "you must realize that Gohan has to cross this bridge eventually. The time will come where there will be another threat to the Earth and he will have to use that form to defend it. It's best that he does it in Other World where he won't cause any real damages from the test."

The taller Namekian finally turns his body to him and puts both hands on his shoulders. "And besides, even if Gohan does relapse, he, as well as all of us, will be able to learn from it and prevent it from happening again. We'll then know the trigger." Piccolo smirks down at him. "However, I don't think that Gohan will relapse. He seems to have a mechanism now that is able to calm him down. He still hasn't revealed what it is yet, but it seems to work wonders for him."

Dende has a feeling that he knows _exactly_ what that mechanism is, but before he gets a chance to answer, his mentor turns and starts walking away after that, his white cape swishing in the wind. Still, he can hear him finishing his thought as he makes his way back to the tree that he always meditates under. "I wouldn't worry too much about Gohan, Dende. That kid is growing up, and he has never failed to amaze me. He will be fine, just you wait and see."

As he watches his mentor get back into his classic meditation pose, he smiles a little, feeling comforted by the larger Namekian's words, although he still can't shake that feeling that maybe, just maybe, his best friend may not be as well off as everyone thinks he is. However, at this moment, he lets the reassurance that he was offered take hold and give him some peace of mind, if only just a little bit.

Time seems to go by after their brief conversation. A little time after finally locking onto the kis of the North side of the Earth, the young Guardian drowns himself in his Guardian duties. He tries his best to oversee the problems of the Earth. Pretty soon, the events that are happening in Other World go to the back of his mind as he starts to work his magic.

He is focused on his tasks for a good two hours until he finally hears the familiar 'pop' of instant transmission a few feet behind him. He immediately is able to feel the two familiar kis of Gohan and Goku, confirming his thoughts that they finally arrived back from Other World. He sighs in relief. Even though he had no doubt that the father/son duo would win, he admits that he was still worried about what could have happened back in Other World.

Turing around to face the two saviors of the Heavens (quite literally in this case), his eyes are blessed with the sight of two identical grins. This makes him relax even further, as it looks as if both father and son are at complete ease with what happened back in the land of the dead.

It seems that his worry was quite unwarranted. He smiles at that.

"Welcome back guys!" He exclaims. Happiness radiates from his voice, sounding like a song. "How'd it go up there?"

The young Guardian sees Goku look at him and give him a wider grin if that is possible. "It was a blast Dende! Both Frieza and Cell were incredibly more powerful than before! In fact, if I hadn't been training with Gohan and Piccolo these past few months I might not have been able to beat Frieza!" The Saiyan father chuckles, rubbing the back of his head. "However, with that training, both Gohan and I were able to put them in their place."

"So everything went as planned then?" His mentor asks, making his way over to them.

The full blooded Saiyan turns to the former demon king. "Yep! Frieza and Cell are back in Hell where they belong."

Goku and Piccolo continue to discuss what happened in Other World, the Saiyan being his normal cheerful self and the Namekian smirking at the description of his battle. However, Dende isn't focused on that at the moment.

He is more focused on his best friend.

He has been silently observing Gohan ever since he had asked the question of how everything went in Other World. Over their time on Namek, Dende was able to learn a lot about his best friend, and over the past few months on Earth he has seen Gohan very frequently, solidifying their incredible friendship. During their time together, they have basically poured their hearts out to each other. Combining what the young Guardian has learned about his friend with his natural empathetic talents, he is able to see some irregularities with the demi-Saiyan boy.

Dende knows how good Gohan is at hiding his true emotions. If it wasn't for the fact that he was experiencing similar feelings back on Namek, he wouldn't have ever guessed that his friend had been feeling afraid and even a bit guilty about the happenings on his old planet.

The demi-Saiyan is displaying those same skills right now.

Gohan is being masterful at hiding it behind his family's trademark grin, but the young Namekian knows his best friend well. The chibi demi-Saiyan has yet to speak about the subject, letting his father do all of the talking. While Gohan is overall a shy, bashful person, when it comes to his friends, especially Piccolo and himself, his friend can be quite social, sometimes talking their ears off. He figures that Gohan would be talking all about what had happened in Other World if it was something that he was proud of. Admittedly, he could also chalk this abnormality up to Gohan's humble nature and the fact that the kid is probably exhausted after an intense battle.

However, there is definitely something is off with his best friend. Gohan's eyes are what give it away. While his expression on his face is almost identical to that of his father, his eyes aren't as bright as they normally are with his normal grin, and it is making Dende suspicious that not everything went as well as Goku is making it seem.

There is something up with the Gohan, and he's not sure what it is.

"—and then when I was done, I saw Cell smashing off of the side of Snake Way, completely defeated," He hears Goku continue. "You should have seen Gohan, he was incredible! Although, I do admit that I couldn't even see him most of the time." The man ruffles his son's hair affectionately. "Yep, we really have ourselves a champ on our hands here."

He watches Gohan closely after this exchange, seeing the demi-Saiyan smile at his father's words with what appears to be a small blush. Goku once again continues by telling them the aftermath on how the Kais had all thanked both of them when Gohan turns his gaze towards him.

And his worst fears are confirmed.

It only lasts a moment before his friend is able to hide it, as if he wanted him—and only him—to see it, but it was definitely there. In that instant, Dende saw a great pain in his best friend's eyes, along with a significant amount of guilt. He doesn't know what it was that caused that look to appear in his best friend's eyes, but what he does know is that everything definitely didn't go seamlessly in Other World. He has a feeling it has something to do with Gohan's fight against Cell, and most likely has to do with that transformation.

It appears as though his initial fears were warranted after all.

* * *

~North Snake Way, Upper Heaven, Other World; Earlier That Day~

Goku looks around the area, instinctively pulling his son to him at the sounds of explosions going off all around. Immediately his attention is drawn to his left where he can see a rather large human with long, golden hair wearing a traditional white fighting outfit doing battle with someone who is obviously Frieza. This battle is intense, with both parties dueling it out at incredible speeds that he has a hard time following. If he were to judge them against what he can do, he is confident that he would be able to win against either of them. It definitely wouldn't be easy though, and he can already see what King Kai said about Frieza being tons stronger. He subconsciously growls to himself at seeing the space tyrant again. Just the mere thought of that bastard grinds his gears.

Thankfully, his rather angering thoughts are cut off by another explosion going off, this time to his right, and his eyes dart over there to see Cell, in all of his perfect glory battling it out with another warrior that looks strangely like Piccolo. He can't make out too many details though as they both disappear from his sight at speeds that not even he can follow.

He gulps at that. There's no doubt that both of those fighters are definitely out of his league.

He briefly looks down at his son, only seeing him observe everything with wide eyes. It's clear that Gohan is trying to take in the situation. Never being in Other World before, it must be quite the sight to the chibi. He knows that it was to him when he died after fighting Raditz. However, the Saiyan father notices something about his son.

While Gohan is observing everything, he can see a very determined expression on the chibi's face. There is no fear present at all. He can also see that his son's eyes are darting back and forth, as if watching something. He quickly realizes that his son is actually watching Cell and that other warrior fighting, as those are the only kis in the area of his son's gaze. While he himself can't follow what is going on in that battle, Gohan seems to be having no problems whatsoever.

He smiles at that, letting out a breath he had no idea he was holding. That just reminds him that his son is in a whole other league when it comes to ki and power. Instead, he closes his eyes and focuses on feeling his son's incredibly warm, calming ki in an effort to keep himself in check emotionally. His anxiety gradually melts away at the feeling.

Sighing in relief, he opens his eyes to see King Kai and four other funny looking people approaching him and Gohan. He waves to them in greeting, his grin falling at King Kai's anxious expression. Obviously the other people are the other Kais that his deity told him about.

"Goku!" King Kai shouts. It's clear to the Saiyan that he's even more worried than he was before. "It's about time you both got here! In the time it took you to arrive, Cell and Frieza did even more damage to Other World, including destroying my planet!"

Eyes widening at that statement, Goku immediately puts on a serious expression. Although his knowledge of Other World is limited at best, he still knows that King Kai's planet being blown up is a huge deal. While it was not even a quarter the size of Earth's moon, it had gravity that was ten times as strong as Earth, which means that the planet was incredibly dense. It would take more firepower to blow up that planet than it would to blow up the Sun's solar system!

"Don't worry King Kai," He suddenly hears, looking down at his son. Gohan holds an even more determined look than before, directing his potent gaze at the ruler of the North Quadrant. "My dad and I will take care of those two."

While taken aback by the amount of confidence in his son's voice, Goku admits that while surprising, it is quite welcome. This is the most confident that he's ever heard his son speak, and that is something that he can't help but feel proud about. It also makes him feel more confident himself.

Gohan really is becoming a great leader, even at the age of eleven.

"Please!" one of the other Kais mocks. The scoff at his son's skills forces him and everyone to turn to the god. Much to Goku's amusement, this Kai is even shorter than King Kai, and instead of having blue skin, he has purple skin. This Kai glares through his small round glasses at his son. "What makes you believe that you can beat that android if not even my Pikkon can, who is this afterlife's greatest warrior?!"

He immediately feels a hot glare, and turns to see King Kai glaring heatedly at this purple Kai. Goku can't help but frown at that statement. While he would admit the purple Kai probably doesn't know who he and his son are, the smaller deity doesn't have the right to judge him and Gohan before they even show him what they're capable of.

He looks down to see how his son is reacting, knowing that confidence isn't something that is his strong point, but the Saiyan father is surprised to see his son merely smirking back at the Kai. However, something about this smirk is different from the normal confident smirk that Gohan usually would have. This one holds an arrogance in it that he instantly recognizes as a smirk that Vegeta would always have. This is the first time that he's seen his son with this expression on his face.

Correction, the second time.

The first time was at the Cell Games.

Nervousness floods his system once again. Perhaps this confidence isn't quite as good of a thing as he originally thought.

At that moment, Gohan once again draws the attention of everyone by pulling away from him and floating into the air in front of the Kai that is doubting them. That smirk continues to be present on his son's face as he snaps his fingers. As soon as the motion takes place, Goku feels a huge jump in his son's ki and the chibi's hair and eyes simultaneously turn bleached blond and piercing teal respectively.

And just like that, his son is a super Saiyan, and a damn powerful one too! His ki shoots up to meet that of Frieza and that other warrior that the Arcosian is fighting. While the Saiyan father is familiar with his son's potential, he still is shocked at how easily Gohan is able to generate as much power as he can close to his max.

His child's smirk deepens as he stares down his skeptic. "This is about half of my power, and my dad is stronger than the ki I'm at right now. You still think we can't handle this?"

He can hear that purple Kai growling at his son for his arrogance. Honestly, he can't blame the guy either with the way his son has been acting since they got here. What's going on? It's not like Gohan to outright disrespect someone like this, especially someone with this Kai's standing.

"Why, you brat!" the Kai spits. "How dare a mere mortal like you talk to a Kai that way! After we allowed you come up here in the first place! Why I ought to—"

"Enough!"

Everyone falls silent at that powerful command, the only sounds now coming from the two battles going on. Goku and the others turn their attention to the Grand Kai, the one who made the command. This is somewhat surprising to the adult Saiyan since the Grand Kai looks more like a hippie from the 60's than anything else. He is wearing giant sunglasses and has long, shaggy white hair with a matching beard. However, it's obvious that the Kai is definitely the top dog here with the way he was able to command respect with just one order.

"Look Westie," the highest Kai in Upper Heaven continues. "We brought these two here for a reason, and that reason is because they both were the ones to bring Cell and Frieza here in the first place, so we know that they have the ability to beat them." He sees the purple man huff and turn away at that, reminding Goku of a child who just got chastised by their mother.

Before he's able to think on that further though, the Kai turns to him and his son, staring down Gohan in particular. "As for you youngling, we are well aware of how powerful you and your father are, which is why you're here. However, you seriously need to adjust your attitude if you plan on coming out of this battle on top. You may be very powerful, but the monster you are going up against is able to defeat the best warrior Other World can produce. I can say right now that if you go into this battle acting as arrogant as you seem to be right now, you will end up losing the battle, and most likely your life."

Well that shut Gohan up.

He can see his son look aways for a moment, and can tell through that special bond that they share that he is feeling ashamed for how he acted and a bit... surprised? That emotion he feels from his son confuses him for a moment before he shrugs it off. After all, Gohan never has acted that way before, so it surprised everyone, including the chibi himself apparently. Still, that was very out of character for his son to go up to one of the rulers of the universe and disrespect him like that, even if the Kai was doubting him. It's kind of worrying for the Saiyan father, especially since Gohan's acting this way when he's not even at the next level yet.

He sighs, trying to once again calm himself. It's probably nothing and he's most likely getting himself worried over nothing. His son seems to be fine now and very clearly regrets his attitude. The Grand Kai definitely humbled Gohan, that's for sure. The chibi seems completely normal now.

But then how come he can't get this bad feeling out of his gut? A bad feeling that something is seriously wrong with his precious son?

*KABOOM!*

He stumbles to the side, caught off guard as a huge explosion sounds off directly to his right. He quickly darts his vision to catch a glimpse of what is going on when he sees a figure falling out of the sky. Upon closer inspection, his eyes widen in anxiety as he recognizes that the figure is the human fighter that was fighting Frieza. Apparently the evil overlord finally knocked the brave fighter unconscious.

*Bang! Bang! BOOM!*

A feeling of dread fills his being as he hears this next series of explosions. He doesn't even need to turn around to figure out what happened behind him. It's obvious as he hears the shout of "Pikkon" from the West Kai. Cell obviously was able to finally knock out the valiant warrior from the West. Those blows that he heard sounded extremely painful too…

He suddenly feels a dramatic increase in ki, and realizes that it's in fact his son. He turns around to face him, only to see both Cell and Frieza now floating in front of both of them, just waiting for them to make the first move. He doesn't need anyone to tell him that its time for this showdown to begin.

He quickly powers up to super Saiyan, grunting in the effort. While it comes naturally for him to transform nowadays, he still doesn't have as much control over the form as his son does. How the chibi has such impeccable ki control he still doesn't understand. Nonetheless, the Saiyan father could still go for hours upon hours in this form without it fatiguing him in the slightest. As he continues to draw out the rest of his ki, a golden aura starts to form around him, tinting his formerly bleached blond hair with a more golden hue as well as giving the Saiyan a radiant glow. Bolts of golden lightning start to spring out of his aura, albeit infrequently, but showing that he has taken this level of super Saiyan further than before. As he continues to power up, he starts to give his son some last minute instructions.

"Gohan, you're going to need to take this to the next level in order to win this one," he starts, turning his head slightly in his son's direction, but not taking his eyes off of the evil duo. "You're going to need to control yourself. Make sure you find that comforting source you told me about to help yourself reign in that control."

Sensing his son's increasing anxiety, he turns his full attention to his son. He looks into the chibi's eyes and can see the conflict over what to do. The Saiyan father knows his son well. He's aware that his son is afraid of going to the next level right at the moment, the anxiety probably amplified further by how he was acting when they first got here. He does his best to reassure his son by putting his hand on his shoulder and continuing to gaze into the child's eyes. "I know that it's scary, and I'm not going to lie, it's probably going to be much more difficult since you're going against a powerful enemy, but I have 100% confidence in you. I know you can do it little man."

He sees his son visually gulp, but the child gives him a nod and a tentative smile. Goku produces a smile of his own at that, and gives his son a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder in support.

"Are you two monkeys done with your love fest? I really want to get this fight going and finally get my revenge for you killing me! I don't have all day you know!"

Goku growls and turns towards the egomaniacal former tyrant of the North Galaxy. The mere thought of Frieza has always rubbed him the wrong way, and now that same 'overgrown lizard' as Vegeta would always 'affectionately' call him is floating there mocking his relationship with his son.

That bastard is just asking for a beating.

"Alright Frieza!" He shouts back, his aura flaring as his ki rises to its max. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!"

The Saiyan quickly charges the tyrant with his maximum speed. He catches the purple and white overlord off guard and is able to connect with a strong blow to the cheek. This forces the lizard-like being to fly into the distance through the golden clouds of Other World. The Saiyan follows on, not wanting to give up his advantage. Unfortunately though, Frieza is able to regain his composure and block and dodge his next entourage of attacks, and the two fighters soon go into a heated exchange of blows that has Other World shaking.

He briefly feels his son's ki rise up even further than his and continue to grow until it's at the maximum level for a first level super Saiyan, but he puts that to the back of his mind for the moment. He trusts his son to take care of Cell. Right now he needs to focus his whole attention on Frieza. He knows that despite how much of an arrogant bastard the Arcosian is that this will be a very difficult battle.

The battle between the two warriors becomes even more intense as it goes on. It seems to be an even battle between them, a battle that is starting to become more and more frustrating for Goku. This seems to be playing out exactly like their battle back on the old Planet Namek, only this time Frieza is keeping up with him much better and matching him blow for blow. He growls in frustration as he sends a quick six blow combo, using a variety of different punches and kicks. Frieza merely parries the attacks expertly. It's obvious that the lizard-like creature has gained more than just power. Sweat starts to pour down his forehead as he sees his opponent smiling evilly at him.

"My, my Goku," the tyrant mocks, making the Saiyan growl even more. "It seems that you aren't able to fight me as easily as before." Goku glares fiercely at the purple and white bastard, only causing the freak to chuckle as he deflects more and more of his attacks. The tyrant from the North starts retaliating, and Goku has to concentrate extremely hard to block and dodge the acrosian's assault. Its even harder since Frieza is able to use his bulky tail as fluidly as a fifth limb while fighting. Finally, after defending a right hook with his forearm and a tail stab to his abdomen with his other arm, the evil overlord clocks him with a left jab to his right cheek. Blood escapes his mouth as he is sent out of the sky, his momentum abruptly stopped by crashing into snake way. Luckily, he landed in the middle of the million mile long path and not on one of the spiky edged sides.

"Hahahaha!" He hears the tyrant cackle. Apparently Frieza's going to take this opportunity to mock him. He grits his teeth and tries to recover and show that bastard what he's got coming to him as Frieza continues his taunting. "That position fits you! I thought you were going to be more of a challenge for me! What's wrong monkey? Did someone take your banana?"

He growls at that comment. While normally the cheerful, level-headed Saiyan doesn't let taunting get to him, Frieza has always had the skill to be able to get him riled up easily. He picks himself off the ground and shoots back into the air at the tyrant.

At least he was going to until he hears a scream.

The sound of the yell is enough to even catch Frieza's attention and both him and the lizard monster look in the distance. He quickly blocks his eyes with his arms as a gigantic typhoon of wind hits them, nearly blowing Goku off of his feet. He can even see a stray bolt of blue electricity come sizzling their way every so often and the path that is snake way starts shaking at the intensity. Goku quickly jumps into the air off of the path so he has a better chance of stabilizing himself before making sense of what is actually happening.

And his jaw drops at what he feels.

This cataclysmic display of power is coming off of his son! He starts to sweat at the pure power that he feels coming from the chibi. He is familiar with the transformation that his son is undergoing. He has seen it enough times recently to recognize it right away as his son's super Saiyan 2 form. However, he has never felt this much power coming off of it before.

His son was holding back!

The Saiyan father is literally frozen in shock. How in the world is Gohan able to generate so much power? And how in the world was he able to hide it from him and Piccolo?! You mean to tell him that every time that both him and Piccolo were getting their butts kicked by his son that he was actually holding back the entire time?

He tries his best to shake off his surprise and smirks to himself. His son probably didn't even know he had this power. It seems that whenever Gohan is pushed over the edge emotionally he explodes with power. Cell obviously pushed the right buttons to make Gohan angry. His son is truly one of a kind, and that is what makes him amazing. He can already feel pride welling up inside of him at the thought, a feeling that he is very familiar with when it comes to his son.

He truly is the proudest father in the universe.

Since he knows that his son now has his fight with Cell in the bag, he once again turns his attention to his opponent. To his delight, he sees the tyrant still looking on in the distance at his son, who has now engaged with Cell in a ferocious battle. He smirks. Even though the initial winds and lightning have subsided, the lizard overlord is still staring in the distance.

A perfect opportunity to turn the tables in their battle.

He subtilely raises his ki, slowly raising it back to his max as to not draw Frieza's attention. He grins, silently charging up a Kamehameha, chanting the words in his head to make it official. After a few moments, the ki blast is ready for discharge, and thanks to the fact that Frieza can't read ki without a scouter, the Arcosian is blissfully unaware of what is about to come.

Taking a page out of the old playbook from his fight with Cell, he stabilizes his attack so that he can hold it with one hand and uses his free hand to put his index and middle finger to his forehead.

Then, in a flash, he disappears.

Boy does he love instant transmission!

"HA!" The Saiyan screams. He throws his right hand forward and unleashes a devastating one-handed Kamehameha at Frieza at point-blank range. Frieza lets out a scream of pain, not expecting the surprise attack in the least, the pure power behind the ki attack also catching him completely off guard. The beam sends the Arcosian yelling curses as it carries him miles through Other World.

Goku takes this opportunity to dash after his opponent and finally finish this battle. As powerful as that move was, he knows it wasn't enough to finish off the tyrant. Not with the power Frieza has displayed during their battle. He eventually catches up to the head of his Kamehameha, just as Frieza was finally able to get himself off of the wave.

How convenient for him.

The Saiyan uses this opportunity to unleash a punting kick to the tyrants stomach, forcing the purple-white lizard upwards. He quickly puts his index and middle fingers to his forehead and instant transmissions to the tyrant, using some extra speed to make his way high above him. Then, as Frieza is regaining his bering, Goku starts dropping out of the sky, raising both of his arms above his head and folding his hands in preparation for his finishing strike. He crushes a devastating downward axe handle using the downward momentum he had built. This attack seems to do the trick as the tyrant is knocked out instantly at the blow. The diabolical villain freely falls downwards like a bullet, through the yellow clouds on the bottom half of Upper Heaven and into Hell once more.

Right where the evil bastard belongs.

The Saiyan sighs in relief, panting heavily as he drops his super Saiyan transformation. That battle really took a lot out of him. Frieza proved himself to be every bit as difficult as he was made out to be, and that was the most difficult battle he probably has ever been in. However, he smiles in reminiscence of it, as it was very entertaining as well. There are not many opportunities where he is able to go all out and not hold back at all, taking great risks and using his skill to the max in order to defeat an opponent.

*BOOM!*

*Clang!*

"…ugh"

Goku blinks at the sudden chain of events. He looks over at the first bang in time see a figure that looks like Cell bang off of the side of snake way and ricochet downwards below the golden clouds. The green android is not able to do anything but groan in protest as he falls back into Hell.

After that scene, he can't help but chuckle. Cell definitely deserved to go out that way. Apparently his son has just gotten done taking care of business as well, so he sets off to find the little bugger. He can't help the returning feeling of pride as he realizes that Gohan was able to beat the one creature that not even Other World's strongest fighters were able to beat.

There he is. He can see the chibi demi-Saiyan floating in the middle of the air, appearing to be in deep thought. He is still in his super Saiyan 2 form, but surprisingly it seems as if he is controlling it perfectly! He grins a one thousand watt smile at that, now even more excited than before, and immediately rushes over to greet his son.

"Gohan!" he cheers, half laughing in his glee as he approaches the child prodigy. "I see you are controlling your super Saiyan 2 form! I knew you could do it!"

However, instead of facing him and giving him a huge grin in return, his son flinches away at his voice. Confused, Goku tries to get his son to look at him, only to have Gohan divert him the whole way. All this does is further confuse the Saiyan father as his son seems to be avoiding his gaze for some reason.

That's when he finally notices that Gohan is not alone, but has the company of the four Kais and Grand Kai. They all are looking at Gohan with a weary gaze, as if his son were a possible threat. This makes Goku instantly glare at the deities. He's mad that they would even entertain a single thought that Gohan would do anything to hurt them. He's about to ask them what's going on when he sees a few drops of liquid fall from right below his son's form. Goku's eyes suddenly widen when he figures out where those drops are coming from.

His son is crying!

He finally reaches out using his bond with Gohan, and realizes that his son is feeling incredibly ashamed at something. But there's another emotion that he feels from his son: fear. Fear is coming off of his son in waves, almost overwhelming the full-blooded Saiyan with the intensity of the emotion. He is about to draw his son into a hug when the chibi finally turns around and looks him in the eye.

And Goku freezes in shock. Gohan… he… his son has that look! That look in his eyes that still gives him nightmares.

That haunted look as returned.

"Dad…" his son chokes out, and Goku can't do anything but nod dumbly. He still is shocked stiff with that look. "It… happened again… I lost control… I relapsed… I-I…. I-I-I…

"I let him win!"


	4. Heaven

**A/N: Hello once again everyone! I hope this update finds you all well.**

 **Wow, I apologize for the long delay in posting. As you guys are aware from my previous posts, my life is in a state of flux right now. This has really limited my writing opportunities. However, now all of my major licensure exams are taken and over with, and I am now a licensed pharmacist! YAY! Now I'm looking for jobs, but I should be able to do more writing on the side now that the hardcore studying is done.**

 **Which leads to this chapter! The only thing I will note about this chapter is that I am trying out some new perspective that I normally write, including Chichi. Please let me know how I did with all of my characters, but I would appreciate specific feedback on both her and Krillin. It will help me gauge how well I'm doing in keeping them in character or if they are completely different in my AU from the reader's perspective.**

 **Enjoy the chappie!**

"Dialogue"

 _Thoughts/Mindscape/Dream sequence_

 _"Telepathic communication"_

~Change in setting~

*Actions*

 **Flashback**

* * *

Chapter 3: Heaven

~Son Household, Mount Paozu, 439 East Mountain District; December 31st, Age 767~

"Happy New Year's Eve to all of our viewers! I'm Jimmy Firecracker of KBFD Channel 2 news, and we are live in Orange Star City where the mayor has scheduled a grand New Year's event to honor the man who saved us all from the terrible threat that was Cell, Hercule Satan! The event will begin at the start of the new year, so stay with us for continuing coverage!"

Krillin rolls his eyes at that statement. He shakes his head at the stupidity of the people of Earth. Yeah, the savior of Earth is Hercule Satan, the man with a giant afro who was attacking Cell with everything that he had, but not even making the android flinch before being swatted out of the ring as easily as a fly. The savior of the Earth is Hercule Satan, the man who conveniently 'tripped' out of the ring and had a 'stomachache' that prevented him from fighting instead of an eleven-year-old boy 'trickster.'

 _Oh brother! How can people believe a goofball like that saved the Earth?_

He takes his gaze away form the small television for a moment to glance over at his little buddy, his godson, the _real_ savior of the world. The pre-teen demi-Saiyan is currently on the floor sitting in front of baby Trunks, playing a game of peek-a-boo with him. The tiny tot seems to be getting tons of amusement from the game with the older demi-Saiyan. Krillin's actually surprised that the baby prince is even still awake at this time of night. Upon closer inspection, he can see the lavender tuffed chibi's eyes starting to droop a bit.

 _Must be as stubborn as his parents,_ he muses.

Looking at the two demi-Saiyans, he has to admit that it's quite a cute sight. It seems that ever since finding out that he's going to be a big brother, Gohan has taken quite a role in little Trunks' life. It's as if Gohan is trying to get as much practice as he can before the newest addition to the family arrives. That little tyke is going to be the luckiest little brother in the world.

Watching this scene makes it hard for him to believe that this same little boy that is doting on Bulma's child is the actual person to beat the greatest threat that the Earth has ever known. He will freely admit that he thought that his best friend was crazy to send Gohan out to fight Cell. However, his godson turned out to be the only one that had enough power to actually match up with the diabolical android. The little boy who is currently playing with a baby doesn't look anything at all like a warrior, but inside that small body of his is a gigantic power that is absolutely mind-boggling.

Literally.

Oh, he remembers that power alright. That power had turned his kind, gentle little buddy into a sadistic, power-hungry monster almost on par with that of Frieza. It was incredibly scary to watch an eleven-year-old boy go though what he did. The hardest part was seeing him threaten Goku, his own father. He's ashamed to admit that if he were to be honest, he was completely terrified that Gohan may have gone over the edge. Heck, he still has nightmares about what could have happened to his little buddy had he not regained himself in those final moments before he ended Cell's existence.

Those moments are the only redeeming moments that came out of that whole situation. Gohan had regained himself after realizing what he had done. It had taken Goku completely breaking down into a sobbing mess to make the kid come to his senses, but he did nonetheless. After that, he was able to blast the bastard android responsible for that whole mess into oblivion.

Looking at Gohan play with Trunks, he knows that the demi-Saiyan wouldn't do anything to hurt any one of them. At least not by his own will. His godson is just too much like his father: too pure-hearted and kind-minded to even think about doing anything to hurt them. Still, Krillin doesn't know how he will react if he ever sees that power from Gohan again. He knows that Goku and Piccolo have worked with the chibi tirelessly to get him to gain more control of the form. From what he hears from the two of them, as well as from Gohan, the training has been going incredibly well. However, he can't help but shiver just thinking about what happened back at the Cell Games.

Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, and with it warm up his body from those frigid memories, he looks back at the television. On the screen he only sees that wannabe reporter continue to praise the biggest fraud in the world. He can't help but get a bit irritated at that. He had wanted to go out right away and disprove Hercule Satan's 'recollections' of the Cell Games, and he was not alone in that regard either. Yamcha, Tien, Chaiotzu, Bulma, heck even Vegeta wanted to show that buffoon what those 'light tricks' can really do.

They were stopped by Goku though. HIs best friend had explained to them that Gohan, while most likely mature enough to handle the attention that came with being declared the world savior, wouldn't want the attention at all. Upon thinking upon it further, Krillin decided that his best friend's thoughts made sense. The child is rather shy and naive to outsiders of their group. His godson is also just too humble for his own good. Knowing Gohan, he would most likely just blush constantly at the constant praise for doing something he felt was only right to do and shy away from all of the attention. It really would have made him incredibly uncomfortable.

So they allowed a clown to take the title.

He honestly has never seen a more ridiculous person in his life than Hercule Satan. The giant afro and goatee make the man look like a serial rapist. Seriously! That thing just screams 'creeper!' It really is amazing how the world believes _that_ man is the world savior.

 _Still, the buffoon really does know how to demand attention,_ the bald monk muses.

He continues to watch everything that is happening on the TV. They are now showing highlights of past fights that the buffoon was in during the last Tenkaichi Budokai while counting down the time till the new year. While Krillin will admit that Hercule's fights are somewhat impressive on a normal human scale, they are nothing in comparison to what they used to be back when he competed.

Okay, maybe he's being a _bit_ biased on that.

Still, they aren't even close to what they can do now. After watching yet another mindless highlight of Hercule's career, he turns his attention away from the TV and peers around the room to find someone that he can talk to. The whole gang had decided to go over to Goku's place to bring in the new year, and nearly everyone is here. The only ones who haven't shown up are the Namekian duo of Dende and Piccolo. He sees Yamcha in the corner of the room talking with Tien about something or another, with Chaiotzu adding his own input every now and then. Gohan is still occupied with the baby demi-Saiyan, now bouncing the little tyke up and down on his knee. Bulma and Chichi are not too far off behind the demi-Saiyan duo discussing Dende knows what. Moving on, he also sees Goku trying to draw Vegeta out of his antisocial shell, although it only seems to be making the Saiyan prince more irritated.

Well, it looks like that would be a good place to step in.

Getting up from his spot, He makes his way over to the two Saiyans. After all, he doesn't want Vegeta to end up blowing up the house trying to get Goku to shut up. Sadly, knowing his best friend, that's what it would take to get Goku to realize that Vegeta just wants to be left alone. He still has no clue how Bulma even got the certified psychopath to show up in the first place.

"Yo, Goku!" He shouts, walking up to the younger of the two Saiyans. His best friend looks his way and grins. Out of the corner of his vision, he sees Vegeta seize the golden opportunity and quickly make his way away from the two of them as fast as possible. He internally laughs at that.

"Hey Krillin!" the taller Saiyan greets him with a smile. This draws a smile to his own face. That grin of his is just too contagious! "What's up?"

"Oh nothing in particular," the monk replies. He looks back over at the television to see the time before turning back to his friend. "Although it seems as though we only have five more minutes until the countdown."

"Alright, I guess we'll have to tell everyone then." The friendly Saiyan looks around the party. If Krillin were to guess, he would assume that his best friend is trying to take in the fact that almost everyone is here. "I'm glad everyone could make it! This has been fun!"

The bald monk nods. He would have to agree. Things are always more lively when all of them are together. Of course he wishes a special someone else were here too, but he knew that she wouldn't be here. "Yeah, we should definitely get together more often. The last time I saw you must have been when you told me about your second kid. That was like, what, six months ago?"

He sees his childhood friend scratch the back of his head in the classic manner that he his known for. "Geez Krillin, has it really been that long? I'm sorry. I guess I've been so focused on training Gohan that I've lost track of the time."

"Oh brother," Krillin replies with a face-palm. He looks up at his friend and sees him grinning in a sheepish manner and can't help but shake his head with a smirk. That's just typical Goku. Although that particular habit of his friend's is very annoying at times, he wouldn't have him any other way. He also knows that his friend truly doesn't mean to forget about his friends. "Well, whatever. Please try and come over more at least? I miss you buddy."

Goku gives him an affirmative nod. "Definitely Krillin. We should hang out again sometime. As soon as I can get Gohan to control his new super Saiyan transformation we can have a spar or something."

Krillin chuckles at that. Of course Goku would want to spar. If he's not thinking about food, he's thinking about fighting. "Speaking of Gohan's training, how is my little buddy doing anyway? Last I heard, he was making some serious progress."

"Well, you see—"

"Guys!" a voice cuts him off. He sees that it's actually the subject of their conversation, Gohan himself. The chibi looks excited, and is vehemently pointing to the TV while tugging on his father's arm. Krillin already realizes what the kid is getting at, but Gohan continues nonetheless. "There are only thirty seconds left on the countdown! Hurry up! Otherwise you will miss it!"

Gohan then proceeds to pull Goku away by the arm towards the television. That sight makes the bald monk laugh. Seasoned warrior or not, Gohan is still a kid. It's refreshing to see him act like one instead of the almost adult-like personality that he has adopted over the past few years. He quickly makes his own way over towards the party of people. He doesn't want to miss the countdown himself.

"Alright everyone get ready!"

"Ten!

"Nine!

"Eight!

"Seven!

"Six!

"Five!

"Four!

"Three!

"Two!

"ONE!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

At that shout everyone starts going nuts. Noisemakers are spun by a few while others are sounding off those plastic party horns in celebration. Gohan takes a pot and starts banging it with a wooden spoon, eventually breaking the spoon after a few over powerful strikes, much to the anger of his mother. However, that's all quickly forgotten as Goku wraps an arm around his wife and, quite unexpectedly to Krillin, gives her a kiss, one which Chichi doesn't hesitate to respond to. He also notices that Bulma caught that out of the corner of her eye, and she quickly makes her way to find Vegeta. She gives him a big smooch of her own against the royal Saiyan's will, probably not wanting to be outdone by her two best friends. That sight actually saddens the monk. That is exactly what he wants. He would give the world for someone that he could kiss on New Year's Day.

Well, alright. He already has the perfect girl, but he hasn't seen her since immediately following the Cell Games.

Despite the happy cheering going on around him, he can't help but lower his head in disappointment as he is reminded of that memory. He had just came up with the idea of wishing the bombs out of Androids Seventeen and Eighteen. Eighteen, his dream girl, had apparently overheard him. She had seemed angry, but he could tell that she was grateful for his wish. She had immediately left the Lookout, flying away to some unknown territory to never been heard from again. The smile she directed at him before she left gave him some hope that he would see her again.

After that, he had started searching the Earth for her. He has searched and searched for countless hours, spending days at a time on a few occasions trying to find the girl of his dreams. However, he has never once been successful, despite his valiant efforts. He figures that it is very easy for her to avoid him since she doesn't have a ki signature to trace. She can also sense ki herself, so if she feels him nearby, he knows that she could quick split if she wanted to. After realizing this, Krillin has given up searching for her, deciding that if she wanted to be found that she would have turned up by now.

He just hopes that he will get the chance to see her again.

"Hey Krillin, what's wrong? Why do you look so sad?"

He's startled out of his rather depressing thoughts by none other than his little buddy. Gohan is looking up at him with big, onyx eyes that are shining with concern for him. He kind of feels bad for making the kid worry about him, but he can't help but sigh in frustration. He still is heartbroken by Eighteen's cold shoulder. "Oh it's nothing big, bud," he responds despondently. "I'm just thinking about the last time I saw Eighteen. That's all."

The boy looks up at him with an expression of confusion. "Have you seen her since the Cell Games Krillin?"

He sighs once again. "That's the thing, Gohan. I've been looking for her for a while now, but I have yet to run into her again. I'm starting to think that she's avoiding me."

A look of understanding crosses the chibi's face, which soon melts into shame for some reason he can't understand. "I"m sorry Krillin… I was the one who blurted out to everyone, including her, that you liked her. It might be my fault that she's avoiding you."

Wait… what?

"No, it's not your fault at all Gohan!" the monk immediately corrects the kid. How can Gohan think it's his fault?

"But Krillin, what if the reason she's avoiding you is because she is completely awkward around you now?"

"Stop right there kid!" He demands. He tries to give Gohan his most serious glare. Yeah, Gohan might have made it more awkward, but he could never blame his little buddy for something that trivial. He was just acting like any naive eleven-year-old. In fact, if Gohan hadn't said anything, his father probably would have. He's starting to regret sharing this information with him. "We don't know if that is even the case, and even if it is, I don't blame you for a second, so you shouldn't blame yourself. Alright?"

For some reason, it looks as though Gohan goes through a series of emotions all at once in the next moment. It's almost as if he is conflicted on whether or not to believe him. Krillin sighs once again. He berates himself for even forcing this info on Gohan to begin with. The chibi has always seemed to take unnecessary blame for things he didn't do, and he just gave him more ammo to add.

Eventually though, Gohan gives him a small smile. "Alright Krillin, I'm sorry." The chibi's smile widens back into his classic, infectious smile. Krillin let out an internal breath of relief. He didn't want to put any more burden onto his godson's already large plate. "I'm sure you'll see her again Krillin! Just you wait!"

The monk smiles at the kid's remark. "I hope so Gohan… I hope so." Wanting to change the topic of the conversation, he quickly looks over at the TV. He sees that they are about to start the grand event that they set up for the New Year's Celebration in Orange Star City. "Hey, why don't we sit down and watch what's happening in Orange Star City? I'm sure we can get a few laughs from watching Hercule."

Gohan giggles at that. "Yeah, I've never seen a funnier guy ever! He's always doing those hilarious poses and his hair is just silly! He's funnier than any clown I've ever seen!" The kid giggles again, and Krillin joins in the laughter at that last comment. "Of course the only time I've ever seen him was the Cell Games. I know that he's the one that everyone thinks beat Cell, but I still think he'll be hilarious." The chibi scratches his chin in thought at that. "I wonder if he finally got a haircut."

That last comment causes Krillin to burst out into laughter again. The only thing that would look more ridiculous than that afro on Hercule would be if he shaved it all off. "Well, let's find out shall we?"

His little buddy nods at that, and they both make their way over to the couch in the living room. They take a seat and start watching what is going on. Apparently the mayor of the city is talking now, and it appears as if there is some great unveiling about to take place. There is a curtain that is drawn at the moment over what looks to be a giant billboard. The bald monk raises an eyebrow wondering what it is that he's going to unveil. The mayor is also at a table with a pile of official looking documents, as if he is about to sign a new city ordinance into place.

"Wow, this must be a huge law or something!" He hears Gohan state beside him. "I wonder what he's going to sign?"

He's wondering the exact same thing.

"This measure was voted on by the public and reached a record breaking approval of 98%!" The mayor states proudly. Krillin can't help but give a low whistle at that. No one ever agrees that much on one thing, especially in as big of a city as Orange Star City. Whatever this is must be a very popular bill. "So it is with great pride and honor that I, Mayor Daidaiiro(1), sign this official ordinance changing the name of 'Orange Star City' to 'Satan City' in honor of our world savior!"

Krillin's eyes bug out as loud cheering breaks out on the television. _That's_ what passed a city-wide vote with 98% approval!? Looking over at Gohan, he can see that the kid is surprised too. Quickly looking around the room to see the reactions of the others, he can tell that none of the others are really paying attention to the TV at the moment. He turns his stunned eyes back to the television. He sees the mayor finish signing the bill before pulling a cord, which withdraws the blinds from in front of that large billboard.

And then both him and Gohan burst out laughing.

Tears are starting to form in his eyes as he laughs at the hilarity of it all. He just can't stop though; it's just too hilarious! They both laugh so hard that they fall off of the couch, now rolling around on the ground.

"What's so goddamn funny that you imbeciles are howling like a bunch of pathetic hyenas?"

Of course their laughter would bring notice to Vegeta. However, for once in his life, Krillin's not afraid of the irritated prince as he just continues to cackle like a maniac. He does however pull himself together long enough to point at the TV, drawing the prince's gaze to the what he and Gohan are laughing at.

And then Vegeta bursts out laughing!

This development stuns the bald monk greatly. However, one more look at the TV is all it takes for him to start laughing all over again. With the normally grouchy Saiyan prince laughing his head off, that is sure to attract the attention of everyone else at the party. As predicted, pretty soon Krillin can hear the additional laughter of Yamcha followed by Bulma. He can even hear Tien start laughing, and he is the most stoic of all of them. In fact, the only ones he doesn't hear laughing are Goku and Chichi. That's probably because they both don't have a clue about what is so funny about what is on the TV screen right now. He is able to glance up once more at the screen before bursting into even more laughter.

The mayor is on a stage, now standing to the right of Hercule himself. The 'world savior' apparently got invited to the stage in the time that he was laughing. They both are now grinning proudly in front of what appears to be a giant billboard of the new city name. That's not the funny part though. The funny part is the giant blown up picture of Hercule with his signature idiotic smirk holding up two peace signs. Even better, there's a speech bubble coming from his mouth saying 'Welcome to Satan City! Home of the World Champ!' The billboard is just so ridiculous that it is freaking hilarious!

 _The only thing that could make that guy more vain would be if they erected a gold statue of the man,_ the monk manages to think through his laughter. _Although with a 98% approval rating for changing the name of the city just to honor the guy, I wouldn't put even that past them._

By the time he's able to calm down, he sees that everyone is now paying attention to the television. Even Vegeta is listening in on what is being said. Apparently Krillin was the last one to calm down from his laughing attack. Looking at the TV, he struggles to retain more laughter (which would have hurt like heck with how much he's already strained himself from laughing) as he sees none other than the figure of his amusement now getting interviewed by, in his opinion, a rather attractive news reporter. That opinion of her changes instantly though as he winces at the sound of her squeaky voice. He can only imagine what it would be like for those with Saiyan hearing. He can already tell that she wasn't hired for her intellect.

"Sounds like you have quite the tournament planned," He catches the reporter announce. His eyes widen at that. Hercule is holding some sort of tournament? That would certainly explain why even Vegeta is interested in what the buffoon is saying. He probably wants to shut the idiot up.

For once Krillin agrees with the Saiyan Prince.

"BWAHAHA!" The buffoon (he's starting to like that title for Hercule) laughs his idiotic laugh in reply. This causes the monk to face-palm. _Oh brother, this guy's a moron…_ "That's right! After all, whoever is able to get past their intergalactic fighter will be facing me in the final round for ten million zeni! If they manage to beat me—which let's face it, is a long shot—then—"

"TEN MILLION ZENI?!"

Okay, even he needed to cover his ears at that shout. He looks over at Chichi, the one who shouted that in the first place. He gulps as he sees that she has already worked herself into hysterics. Much to his continued apprehension, this is a feat that is even easier than normal considering that his best friend's wife is a little over seven months pregnant.

"Dammit Kakarot!" He hears Vegeta yell at his fellow Saiyan. He's probably going to complain about his rival's wife. "Tell your harpy to stop shouting so damn loud!" Checkmate on that.

Much to his amusement, Goku looks a little scared of his wife at the moment. Not that he can blame him. He would be scared of Chichi too if she were his wife! "Umm… Chichi—"

"Goku!" the matron of the house cuts off her husband. She sounds frantic. "You have _got_ to enter that tournament! That prize money could put our Gohan through college, where he could graduate at top of his class and become a great scholar! Then he would meet the perfect girl to be his wife and… OH!" The sudden shout makes Krillin jump in place. It appears as though the (somewhat insane) woman is in her own fantasy land now. "Think about the grand babies!"

Krillin briefly looks over at his little buddy. He once again explodes into incessant giggles, pain and fatigue be damned. The boy's face has turned so red at his mother's insinuation that he is doing the perfect impression of a tomato.

Oh, if only he had a camera!

"MOM!" the demi-Saiyan indignantly shouts in whiny manner that is typical of a child his age. "I'm only eleven!"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say though as the Son Matron's mood switches on a dime. Krillin can't help but wonder how she does that. Now appearing extremely livid, the mother immediately marches over to her son. Krillin winces slightly. Even though Gohan's height goes up to her shoulders now, he seems to appear much smaller under the powerful glare she is sending her son's way. "I don't care! I can dream, can't I?"

Gohan gulps at his mother, making the monk snicker a little. He can see Goku also scratch the back of his head, desperately trying to figure out what to do in this situation. "Common Chichi! I already want to enter the tournament so you bet I will win that money for you, so just calm down—"

She instantly spins around, now glaring her husband down. "Don't you tell me to calm down—"

"GOKU SON!"

His head whips to the television. He had expected those words to come from the irate mother, not from Hercule on TV. This obviously gets the attention of everyone else as well. Now the whole group is once again watching the television with great interest.

"I hope you're watching Goku Son, because I, Hercule Satan, savior of the world, challenge you to enter this tournament. Then I will be able to show you what a fraud you really are!" Krillin feels his ki spike a little at that, but he calms himself down quick enough. This is new. Sure, the buffoon has denounced their way of martial arts as a way of getting people to believe his story, but this is the first time he has actually called out Goku specifically. Wanting to find out what this is about more than ever now, he continues to watch what the moron is going to say next.

"What do you mean by that Hercule?" that dumb reporter asks him to elaborate.

The neanderthal glares at the camera. "Well, as everyone is probably aware, Goku Son was the champion of the Tenkaichi Budokai before me, but if you look at his fights, he used all of those cheap light tricks that those mystery fighters from the Cell Games used, meaning that he cheated in order to win! Therefore, I challenge Goku Son to my Intergalactic Tournament in order to prove to everyone the _real_ way of fighting! He won't be able to cheat his way to victory in _my_ tournament! I will make sure he knows his place!"

That does it!

Krillin feels his rage spike at that comment. This idiot of a man—this fraud—is calling a true hero a trickster just because he doesn't understand the concept of ki control? Hercule has the gauld to call his _best friend_ a cheater and a liar, claiming that he won the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai using 'light tricks?' He can feel his ki start to rise with his anger as he tries desperately to calm himself down.

However, his anger quickly diminishes with the feeling of an even more monumental ki spike.

He comes out of his shock in time to gain his bearing as he feels a gust of wind attempt to blow him away. The TV crashes into the wall behind it, damaging it and—thankfully—shutting up that disgrace of a man. He looks over to the source of the ki spike, shocked to see none other than his little buddy, Gohan, already transformed into a super Saiyan… and still powering up. Krillin was so focused on his own anger that he didn't even notice Gohan's ki level until it was already at a super Saiyan level. He gulps, trying to figure out what set the normally level-headed chibi off. Like his mother, Gohan has been known to have an explosive temper when pushed too far. Unlike his mother though, his anger threshold has an extremely high ceiling. His patience is second only to that of his father. Krillin finds it strange that something so trivial is able to set Gohan off, despite it being about Goku. The ki he feels from the chibi though is overwhelming, and it's only continuing to rise.

He is starting to fear the beast that came out during the Cell Games again.

Shivering, he internally berates himself for becoming scared of Gohan. He can't help it though! That day traumatized him in a way he would have never imagined. He still feels extremely guilty that he would think that one of his best friends would be a danger to him though. However, if Gohan continues this for much longer, this entire house will burst from the pressure gradient that he is starting to generate.

As if Gohan read his mind, the kid powers down as quickly as he powered up. The child then instantly collapses into an unconscious state from the sudden exertion of ki. Perhaps his godson came to his senses, or perhaps he just ran out of ki. Either way, he's glad that that little explosion of power is over. He is about to make his way over to make sure that Gohan is okay, but as soon as he starts moving, he sees Goku appear there instantly. The older Saiyan quietly picks up his son and starts heading towards what he assumes to be the boy's bedroom. However, Krillin doesn't fail to notice the waves of anxiety and concern coming off of his best friend as he carries his son to bed.

"HA! It seems those little 'self-control' lessons you've been working on with your son haven't shown their fruit yet, have they Kakarot?"

Much to his surprise, Goku stops in his tracks, and the monk actually hears him growl at his fellow Saiyan. It seems that this is a touchy subject for his best friend, rightfully so as he thinks about it further. Vegeta probably just wants to fight Goku and is trying to get him riled up. Shockingly, it seems to be working. Instead of retaliating though, Goku just turns and continues towards his son's room in order to give the child a good place to rest. Krillin sees Vegeta smirk before the jerk pushes himself off of the wall he was leaning on and walks outside. He has no idea what the Saiyan Prince intends to do out there, but he couldn't care less at the moment. Chichi quickly folllows her husband and son out of the room in a worried state, leaving all of her guests to speculate what had just happened. The room is silent as everyone else is still too shocked at what just occurred to do anything else.

He finds himself shocked too. That was completely unlike Gohan to explode like that in a situation that didn't put the lives of innocent people at risk. For some reason, those comments that Hercule said really pushed Gohan over the edge quickly. He suddenly realizes that Gohan hadn't seen Hercule since the Cell Games, so he most likely wasn't prepared for a bomb like the one Hercule dropped on his father. It still doesn't make any sense to him though. That shouldn't have had nearly the effect on Gohan that it did.

What's wrong with his little buddy?

* * *

~439 East Mountain District, February 21st, Age 768~

He grunts as he fights off another strong attack by his pupil. The only things even allowing him to even block the assault at all are his superior experience and technique, and the fact that he knows the kid better than anyone else.

Oh, and the teeny-tiny fact that he's double teaming the child with Goku.

Speaking of Goku, his training 'partner' manages to use Gohan's focus on himself to his advantage, delivering a good shot to the kid's abdomen. He hears him grunt, the pre-teen reflexively grabbing his stomach, and Piccolo uses this action to land a blow of his own on the demi-Saiyan prodigy. This sends the disgruntled chibi towards the ground, where he explodes in a crater. He frowns, knowing that his only student is stronger than this. Never mind the fact that the only way that they were able to get the kid into this position in the first place is by double teaming him.

Something is definitely up with Gohan. He still refuses to go to the next level of super Saiyan. Sure, while he is stronger as a super Saiyan than both him and Goku, the kid doesn't stand a chance against both of them together if he doesn't go to the next level. He has seen his pupil at that level. He is absolutely, unbelievably strong. His student is able to completely overpower their double team without issue in that form.

When Gohan first found out about his brother, he was training that form hardcore, almost on a daily basis. Every time his student did this he would beat the absolute stuffing out of him and Goku. However, ever since the rebellion in Hell with Frieza and Cell, Gohan hasn't been doing that well. He hasn't even transformed once!

That fight was months ago for Dende's sake!

He knows that something happened in Other World. That much he is certain. Why else would Gohan be suddenly reluctant to transform again after that one event? Goku may have painted a pretty picture on the Lookout, and Gohan did a very good job of selling it too, but he has noticed a difference in the training. Gohan has been a lot more hesitant to use his power, even in his lower forms. When he confronted Gohan about it, the kid just looked at him with that innocent, oblivious expression that he has perfected over the years. The kid pretended that he didn't even know what Piccolo was talking about. As the Namekian continued to prod his student, the kid wouldn't budge an inch. Gohan eventually guilted the Namekian out of talking about it by insinuating that he didn't trust the demi-Saiyan.

And that couldn't be farther from the truth.

So he has left it alone since. He really does trust his pupil, and figures that Gohan would tell him if it was anything that was big. After all, the kid has never had any problems telling him anything. No, his pupil wouldn't hide anything from him, so he has opted to let Gohan deal with it on his own. He wants to give the kid a chance to figure out whatever it is that he needs to in order to gain back his confidence in that form. Gohan's done it before with the transformation; he just needs the time.

And if the kid needs his help, Piccolo will be more than willing to help out. After the last time the subject was breached, he has decided to let the kid come to him on his own. The pre-teen demi-Saiyan is growing up after all, and this is a pristine opportunity for the kid to work out his own problems—a chance to fight his own demons.

Still, that doesn't mean these training sessions haven't been frustrating as hell!

As he sees Gohan struggle to make it back to his feet, he scowls. Hidden demons or not, Gohan _is_ going to transform today, and Piccolo is going to make sure of it! His pupil is never going to get any better at controlling his super Saiyan 2 form if he doesn't transform. He was so close to control too! Piccolo was extremely confident that Gohan would have made great strides in his control when he fought Cell in Other World. His pupil had the opportunity to see just how far he had come from the last time he fought him at Cell Games. Something happened in Other World that made his student revert for whatever reason, but Gohan is just going to have to transform sooner or later.

Might as well make it sooner.

"Common kid! This is pathetic!" he jeers. His attempt to get a rise out of his student. "I know you're better than this!"

He sees his pupil narrow his eyes at him and jump into the air. His student swiftly charges towards him and Goku. Gohan immediately goes on the attack, striking him right in the chest much faster than he anticipated. Piccolo winces, fighting off the amount of pain that he feels from that one blow. He tries to block the rest of his pupil's attack. He really needs to put his full concentration into defending himself if he wants to compete with Gohan. Apparently, Goku is letting him fight on his own for a few moments.

That son of a bitch!

Still, he can already tell that Gohan is unfocused in his attack. The kid's movements are entirely too predicable. The Namekian, while working physically on blocking them thanks to the giant disparity in ki between him and his much stronger student, has no trouble figuring out what Gohan is doing. The kid seems to be fighting carelessly, very unlike the pupil that he's been training since the boy was less than five years old. This in turn, is tiring Gohan out. Piccolo continues to fight his reckless student until he finds the opening he needs. He dodges left and uses the momentum that Gohan had built up to throw him down towards the ground. The chibi yelps in surprise as he crashes into the earth once more.

"This isn't right Piccolo," Goku states. Ah, so the father is frustrated too. He can tell by the tone of voice. "He needs to transform. He's tiring out too quickly and is becoming reckless."

"I've noticed that myself," the Namekian confirms. He watches his student struggle to get to his feet. "He could get himself killed if he continues to fight this way. How do you propose we get him to do it though?"

"I've been thinking about this for the past couple of weeks, and I believe I know how." Piccolo notices that his ally is looking at his son. Gohan doesn't appear to be in much of a hurry to continue. The kid is most likely catching his breath.

"I know that we had thought that getting him angry would be enough after the New Year's party, but that hasn't worked at all. It's been seven weeks." After stating his piece, he turns to Goku, who nods his head in confirmation of what he's thinking.

"Exactly. I think it will take a different type of motivation for him to transform. I'm just really hesitant to use it."

As if a light bulb went off in his head, the Namekian suddenly knows exactly what his rival is talking about. "You're going to use his brother aren't you." He makes it sound more like a statement than a question.

"I really don't want to Piccolo, believe me," he replies. "I was seriously hoping that just making him angry would be enough. I really hate guilt tripping him like that, and using his brother would be the worst kind of guilt trip. It also could possibly backfire supremely. It's one of the reasons I've waited so long to try this." The Saiyan shakes his head, running a hand through his blond hair. The man's gaze then meets his and Piccolo can see just how hard it is for the father of his pupil. "You're right though Piccolo. He could get himself killed if he continues this way. Maybe not now, but whenever he needs this power again."

The Namekian nods, quickly turning back to the battlefield. Gohan apparently is now rested enough and is going back on the offensive. Piccolo quickly dodges a left hook and continues to fight off the pre-teen demi-Saiyan. Again, he finds it incredibly challenging just to keep up, despite Goku's help from the other side. How Gohan was able to recover so much ki after just a minor pause in the battle is still incredible to him. The battle continues for a few more minutes, with Gohan still holding his own against two opponents. Eventually though, his partner is able to get a good hit in that sends the child flying. Gohan appears to recover quick enough and looks as if about to power up again, but Piccolo notices the child stop himself.

He growls, fed up with his pupil's irrational fear of himself. He quickly phases to the chibi and sends him once again flying to the ground with another assault while he's struggling internally.

"This is enough!" He shouts at his pupil as he recovers from their latest exchange. He decides to get everything in the open. "Gohan, I'm sick and tired of this ridiculous fear of yourself! I know you feel guilty about the Cell Games but that's over and done with! No one blames you for acting that way, so stop blaming yourself!"

"Piccolo's right, Gohan!" Goku chimes in. "You really need to stop holding back yourself on this! It will end up biting you in the butt in the end!"

Seeing they've got Gohan at least at a standstill at the moment, Piccolo decides to try one more method that might be able to work kick his pupil's ass into gear. "Think about this from a logical perspective, kid. The more you fear this power, the more power it has against you. You are limiting yourself with your unwarranted fear—"

"Unwarranted fear?!" Gohan shouts back. "You think my fear of this transformation is unwarranted!? You have _no idea_ what I go through when I transform!"

This takes both adults aback. His student sounds astonishingly livid. Piccolo had not expected Gohan to retaliate to that statement so vehemently. Apparently he struck a nerve with that comment. Still, this just provided him with the perfect opportunity to get his student to open up a little more about this subject. "That's because you won't tell us! You keep on saying that there's nothing wrong!"

"That's because there _is_ nothing wrong!" The pre-teen retorts. "There's absolutely nothing wrong as long as I stay out of my second transformation!"

"That is a lie son." Goku states calmly. "You have been holding yourself back and have been fighting very sloppily for a while now, even in your lower forms! Is that any way to fight in order to be good enough to protect your brother?"

Ouch! That had to sting. He can clearly see the surprise on his pupil's face at that before his eyes narrow. "Don't you _dare_ bring my brother into this!" he growls back, seething. Yep. Goku was right, that definitely got a reaction out of him. Now its time to go for the kill.

"Well that's why you're here training with us in the first place, is it not? It's shocking that you don't bring him up yourself in this whole process. It almost seems as if you don't care if he gets hurt by the next threat t—"

*BANG!*

*Crash!*

Piccolo hits the ground so hard that he makes a crater of his own from Gohan's last hit. That will definitely sting for a while without senzu beans. How the hell did Gohan move that fast anyway?

"Don't you _ever_ say that I don't care about my brother!" the irate demi-Saiyan spits at him from above. "I _love_ my brother! I don't care who you are, I will _not_ stand someone saying that I don't care about my brother's wellbeing!"

 _Okay, I may have gone a bit too far on that last jab,_ the Namekian concedes. He can feel the glare that his pupil is giving him, even if he can't see it through the smoke and dust that was brought up by his impact.

"I'm doing everything within my power to protect my brother!" Gohan continues. "I'm dealing with it in my own way! Like I said, you have _no idea_ what that transformation is like so just SHUT UP!"

The next thing he notices is his student suddenly flaring his ki before it leaves at a phenomenal speed. The Namekian sighs, getting out of his crater. He tries not to wince from where he took that last blow as he looks up in the direction that Gohan went. Piccolo has a good feeling of where his pupil is going. He turns his gaze to Goku, who appears to be getting ready to chase after his son with instant transmission.

"Let him go, Goku." He tells the man before he's able to leave. He rises into the air and floats next to his former enemy. "He's heading to the Lookout, most likely to vent to Dende. It's probably best that we give him space at the moment."

He sees the full-blooded Saiyan look longingly in the direction that his son went for a few moments more before sighing and lowering the hand that he was about to use to perform instant transmission. Goku's temperament then seems to switch in a blink of an eye. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" He suddenly shouts. The Saiyan shakes his head in frustration—a frustration that he shares but never expected his ally to vocalize to such an extent. "This is exactly what I was afraid of when I decided to use his brother in this manner! I should have predicted that he would react defensively!"

Taken aback by his training partner's sudden anger at himself, Piccolo tries to calm the man down. "Goku, it was my fault. I pushed him too hard too quickly. You only did what you thought was best. We had no way of knowing for sure that he would react that way."

"No, your wrong Piccolo. I should have known! Not only am I his father, but this is exactly how he reacted the first time I tried this too."

"Wait, you tried getting him to transform using his brother before?" This comes as a huge surprise to the Namekian. He knows that Goku has trained Gohan by himself plenty of times, but usually he doesn't try to get his pupil to transform without the Namekian present. It would be too dangerous, not to mention impossible to challenge Gohan enough to require the transformation in the first place.

"Well, not exactly," he admits. "It was when we were still in Other World. He was terrified of himself after his battle with Cell because he had relapsed during that battle, and I had tried to motivate him to continue training using his brother." The man shakes his head more at the memory. "He immediately asked me if I had thought that he didn't care about his brother by telling him to transform into that 'monster' again."

Piccolo can't help but wince at that last sentence. "I know," Goku continues. He apparently noticed the wince. "I reacted that same way. In hindsight, that was probably the worst time to bring that up, right after he had a horrible experience with the transformation again. Still though, I had made my point and I had thought I had gotten the idea in his head to think over. This is the main reason I waited so long to try this again. I wanted him to reach the conclusion that he can use the transformation to protect his brother _better,_ not endanger him. Instead, it seems like it hasn't really changed."

The Namekian honestly doesn't know what to say to that. Goku is absolutely right. It seems that Gohan is still of the mindset that he is dangerous to his brother. "Perhaps Dende can talk some sense into him," Piccolo finally tries. "They have spent a ton of time together ever since Dende became Guardian of Earth. Maybe he will listen to someone his own age better than one of us. And if not, actually meeting his brother in person might be helpful. Your second child is due any day now, correct?"

Goku smiles at the thought of his second son. "Yep! According to Chichi, the baby will be coming any day within the next few weeks."

"Well then, I suggest we halt Gohan's training for now until the brat is born. I think if Gohan's main motivation is more real and in the flesh it will help him with his mental stability. He will finally have a face to associate with his brother."

"I agree with that suggestion Piccolo." The Saiyan then grins at him. "I think you are absolutely right. If the bond that he has with his brother is already as strong as it is when he's not even born yet, I think meeting him and solidifying that bond would be extremely helpful to his control in the super Saiyan 2 form."

Piccolo nods his head in confirmation with his fellow trainer. Oh, that bond is indeed impressive. Ever since feeling the ki the first time, his pupil has always been able to find it within moments from literally anywhere on Earth, despite the child not even being born yet. That is a sign of a magnificently strong fraternal bond between the two. He has no doubt that what Goku said will happen as this bond is only in its infancy at the moment.

Over the years, Piccolo has learned a ton about bonds between people. The Namekian used to be of the mindset that caring about others would only be a hindrance to fighting as it gives one more to lose. Others can use those people as targets, creating weaknesses that wouldn't be there otherwise. However, his experiences with Gohan have taught him that the exact opposite is true. He has an incredible bond with the pre-teen demi-Saiyan that developed over the years since he has known the kid. This bond has not only helped him gain a greater motivation to fight, but also gave him a ridiculous amount of mental control of himself. That bond is the main reason he can be so rational in difficult situations.

So it stands to reason that this fraternal bond between the kid and his brother will help Gohan achieve a similar mental stability. It seems that there is much more than meets the eye with this new transformation that they haven't thought about. There may be reasons why it affects Gohan so adversely that have not yet been figured out, and it may be that this bond will be the key to finally getting some answers instead of more questions.

"So Piccolo," Goku states. This startles him out of his thoughts on his student. The man gives him a rather mischievous smirk. "Since we didn't get a chance earlier, do you want to have another spar right now?"

 _Ugh. Yeah Goku, that's what I want to do after fighting Gohan for the past two hours._ He's already exhausted from all of that effort, plus Gohan's 'parting shot' really took a lot out of him. Nonetheless, his pride won't allow himself to show any weakness. He will ride it out to keep up appearances at least. He grunts, nodding in affirmative.

Goku responds by throwing him a punch.

* * *

~The Lookout~

"I can't believe that they really would say that I'm not really trying in my training! I'm working my butt off every single day, going against them two-on-one! How is that even fair?!"

Dende just nods in agreement with his best friend, although his thoughts are to the contrary. He knows that fighting two-on-one is the only way that Goku and Piccolo can hold their own against Gohan. If anything, it's the only thing that gives the demi-Saiyan a challenge. However, the Guardian also knows that it is better to just let Gohan get his grievances off of his chest when he's in his "venting-ranting mode" as Dende likes to call it. Gohan will holler and complain, sometimes for literally an hour, and all he can do during those times is listen. Only once his best friend runs out of steam can he start to talk him down from his issues.

The Guardian of the Earth was completely taken aback when he was interrupted from his monitoring duties by his best friend showing up as a super Saiyan. Gohan was extremely livid. He was about to ask him what was wrong when Gohan just started on his bickering about his father and mentor. Now for the past ten minutes he has listened to his best friend rant about the criticisms that he received from both of his trainers. While the young Namekian doesn't know exactly what set his friend off, he is willing to bet the dragon balls that it has to do with their latest attempt to get the demi-Saiyan to transform into a super Saiyan 2.

"Really?! I mean seriously! Yeah, I really don't want to conquer this transformation at all! But go ahead! Try and force me to transform! That will make it _so much better!_ I have absolutely _no idea_ what goes on in my own freakin' body when that transformation occurs, so it must be in my best interest to force the transformation using any means possible! They do realize that's _exactly_ what Cell did, right?! Yeah, follow the plan of a bio-android psychopath! Thats a _fantastic_ idea! It's not like I actually have a plan of my own that I'm working on to help with this! No! Just ignore _my_ strategies since yours work so well!"

Yep. Hit the nail right on the head.

He winces a little at how thick his best friend is laying on the sarcasm as he speaks. The normally level-headed demi-Saiyan usually avoids sarcasm as much as possible due to the fact that Chichi finds it in bad taste; however, when he really gets going, Gohan can really lay it on with the best of them.

"By the way, how did they _think_ I would take them saying that I don't care about my very own brother's wellbeing!"

The Guardian's eyes widen at that. Did they really say that to Gohan to get him to transform? He suddenly realizes why his best friend is so irate now. Only someone who doesn't understand what love is would be unable to recognize that Gohan cares about his brother _most of all_.

"Seriously! You know as well as I do what happens when I transform, Dende!"

The small Namekian nods, knowing _exactly_ what happens when Gohan goes to the next level. He also knows that both Goku and Piccolo do _not_ know as this is something that was disclosed only to him. He has sworn secrecy to his best friend to not tell either of them until Gohan is ready to tell them himself. He only hopes that this recent incident leads him closer to telling the two of them.

Judging from his friend's rant though, it seems unlikely.

As Gohan continues to go on about this situation, he internally curses Piccolo and Goku for their sheer ignorance. It is completely obvious at this point that Gohan is going to resist the transformation to the max. While he agrees that the both of them should be told why he has been resist since they could probably help, he understands why Gohan would refrain from that hardcore. Him knowing is bad enough, and the demi-Saiyan child doesn't want to add any extra weight to this problem. Forcing the child to transform is definitely not the way to go about addressing this issue.

And they most certainly shouldn't have used his brother either.

He can't help but scowl at that idea once again. Really? Are they seriously that dense? He's heard stories about how clueless Goku can be, but the full-blooded Saiyan also is known for being completely in sync when it comes to Gohan. Piccolo also should have known better. They really should look at it from Gohan's perspective. If they are having this hard of a time getting Gohan to transform, they seriously should know by now that there's a reason for that. After all, Gohan had agreed to these training sessions in order to help him control that form. Trying to get him mad by saying that he doesn't love his brother will not do anything to help the situation if he's actively trying to resist the transformation. It will only create a further setback.

Like right now.

He fixes his expression back to his interested listening expression as Gohan finishes his tirade. It appears as though the pre-teen is finally calming down. He has finally powered down from super Saiyan and starting to talk more normally now.

"Phew! Wow, I'm sorry for unloading like that on you Dende," the demi-Saiyan apologizes with a sheepish smile. "Thanks though for letting me get it all off of my chest!"

"Hey, that's my job as your best friend Gohan," the little Namekian replies. He grins for a moment before it fades to a more concerned expression. "So, what are you going to do now?"

Gohan scratches the back of his head. "Honestly, I'm still kinda mad at Dad and Piccolo, so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out for a bit."

The Guardian of Earth grins at his friend. While he should probably focus more on his Guardian duties, he does have his ki senses attuned to Earth's population, so he should be able to tell if something extremely significant happens that needs his guidance. He would rather hang out with his best friend anyway. Besides, after all that Gohan's had to deal with today, he figures that the kid deserves some 'fun time.' "Sure Gohan, I have some time. What would you like to do?"

"Do you think we could continue studying the Namekian language? I think I'm actually starting to get the written language down."

Dende can't help but giggle. Only Gohan would want to study to hang out. In all honesty though, the young Guardian has really enjoyed trying to teach his best friend the language of his people. It helps that the kid learns extremely fast. "Sure Gohan! Hold on, let me go get my texts."

However, before he is even able to take two steps towards the Lookout Palace, the Guardian feels a sharp spike in a ki from Earth. It wasn't that large of a ki, but it was the location that caught his attention. It was right inside Gohan's house! The Guardian turns around to see if his best friend noticed…

Gohan's expression says it all. He turns his gaze in time to see the pre-teens shocked expression turn into a large grin. It is such a happy expression that Dende can't help but mimic it himself. He has a feeling of what that was, but waits for his best friend to confirm his thoughts.

"Dende! It's time! He's coming!" Gohan pulls the Guardian into a big hug, laughing gleefully. "That ki spike is my brother, ready to be born! I'm finally gonna be a big brother!"

Thankfully his friend puts him down before he can squeeze him tighter. However, the child is still jumping around happily until he appears to realize something. "Crap!" he shouts. "I need to get Mom to Bulma's! She said that she was the only one with the staff to deliver a Saiyan baby!" The Guardian is pulled into another hug, a quick one this time. "Thanks again Dende! I'll come up with the little guy as soon as I'm allowed! See ya!"

Gohan then turns around and closes his eyes, concentrating hard on something. "I really hope this works… this will be my first real test to see if I got it down." The demi-Saiyan shocks the Guardian of Earth by raising his right hand and putting two fingers to his forehead, then disappearing a moment later. Dende blinks a couple of times before breaking out into a giggle fit.

Did he mention his best friend was a fast learner?

* * *

~Room 2, Capsule Corporation Medical Ward, Capsule Corporation, West City~

Chichi tries her best to catch her breath as anxiously awaits for the nurses to finish cleaning up her newborn son. Despite the overwhelming pain and fatigue that comes with delivering a child, the Son matron can't help but smile proudly as she hears the extremely loud wails of the newest addition to her family. The only thing that could make this better is if Goku were right here in the room with her.

Of course she realizes why the doctors were hesitant to let her husband in the room with her while delivering though. After what happened when Gohan was born, she doesn't blame them in the least. Only her husband could be so incredibly brave and strong, yet cry like a five-year-old girl at the mere sight of a needle. She shakes her head fondly at the memory.

"Congratulations Chichi!" The attending physician states happily. He has a hard time getting his voice heard over the loud cries of the newborn. "You have yourself a very healthy young Saiyan boy! He weighs a whopping 20 pounds, 6 ounces! Would you like us to remove the tail right away?"

"That would actually probably be for the best Dr. Hamada, thank you," She responds, smiling fondly at the doctor. This particular doctor is the same man who delivered Gohan. He's also her primary care physician as well as a family friend from back when she was still living with her father on Fry Pan Mountain. He, along with his select medical team, are the only ones outside of the group of Z-fighters that know about Saiyans living on Earth. Not only is this helpful since he won't freak out when he sees the abnormally large weight of the child as well as the tail, but he also has experience caring for Saiyan patients. Bulma pays him and his staff triple their normal salaries in order to keep them on hand at Capsule Corps. for situations like this.

Speaking of Bulma, the blue-haired genius startles Chichi a little bit by wrapping her arms around the tired mother, giving her an enthusiastic hug. The Son matron can't help but smile though. Her best friend was with her every step of the way with this delivery, taking Goku's place as the supportive hand-holder. "Congratulations Chichi!" She chirps. "I'm so happy for you! Now Trunks will have a playmate his own age once they're old enough!"

She chuckles while returning the hug. "Well, I have no doubt that they will become the best of friends when they get older."

"Here you go, Chichi," a nurse interrupts her. The mother will forgive the woman though as it appears that she is holding her, now sleeping, child. She quickly reaches out to gather her youngest son and can't help but smile.

Being part-Saiyan definitely has it's advantages. For one, her baby, though just born merely within the last half-hour, already has a good amount of fluffy black hair on his little head. Another is that Saiyan babies develop basic motor and psychological functions much quicker than humans. This is mainly due to the fact that back on Planet Vegeta, generation after generation of Saiyan babies was subject to missions under the Planet Trade Organization as early as hours after they are born, so they needed to develop extremely quickly.

This means that her baby will be able to hold his head up, wave his limbs around, even smile, frown, and giggle right away. These functions usually take months for a normal human baby to develop. Eventually, this will also lead to her baby being able to start crawling and walking much earlier than normal children. This is also the reason Saiyan babies are so much heavier than a human newborn, even though they don't look any bigger than normal. The muscles are denser and already more developed. Her baby is actually on the smaller side by Saiyan standards.

She can tell her baby is now content as he sleeps by the small smile on his tiny face. Both Bulma and her coo over how adorable the chibi is. Her best friend then gets up and makes her way out of the room. "I'll go get Goku for you and tell him the good news, Chichi. You just rest up and bond with that little cutie while I lead him here. After that, I'll go get Gohan."

She smiles at the bright woman. "Thank you Bulma! You are the greatest." Her friend waves as she leaves the room.

"I think we'll give you some bonding time with your son as well, Chichi," the head nurse adds.

The Son mother nods to her nurse with a smile. "Thank you Grace. You all were fantastic as usual." As the nurse leaves, Chichi turns her attention back to her son, leaning down and giving him a loving kiss. "Oh, aren't you the most adorable baby!" She softly coos. "I thought that Gohan was the cutest baby, but you are definitely giving him a run for his money! I only hope it doesn't take us a month to pick a name for you…"

She sighs. Just like Gohan, both her and Goku haven't come up with any good names yet for the baby. She is temped to try Einstein once again and see if the baby likes it. If this child is anything like his brother though, he will absolutely despise the name. It was only by accident that they were even able to settle on Gohan. She still doesn't know how a one month old baby could have such strong opinions on names. Must be a Saiyan thing.

She spends the next few minutes just watching her neonate son sleep happily while thinking of potential names. There are a few that she can think up on the spot, but they are about as good as the names her father had picked out for Gohan. She shivers slightly at that thought. She loves her daddy dearly, but those names were absolutely horrific. Ox Jr.? Johhny Oxenseed? Ox-in-the-Box? She realizes he's the Ox King, but really?

There is no way she is calling her son by anything Ox related.

She is interrupted from her naming nightmare by a soft knock on her hospital room door. After a soft acknowledgement from the Son matron, Bulma enters the room once again, this time with the company of Goku. The Saiyan immediately spots his wife and quickly makes his way over to her bedside and gives her hug. Her husband makes an extra effort to be gentle, as his son is sound asleep in his wife's arms. She notices in her peripheral vision Bulma quickly making her way out of the room to give them some privacy.

"How are you doing Chichi?" he asks. The man sounds nervous, and the mother figures that he remembers how she was screaming bloody murder before the nurses took her away to the delivery room. She giggles at the memory. She doesn't feel an ounce of regret for that since she was in the worst physical pain of her life at that point.

"Oh Goku, relax. I'm not actually going to kill you." She giggles some more at her husband's relived expression. She adjusts her hold on her son so she can smack his arm with her free hand. "Oh honestly, Goku. It would be impossible for me to even hurt you even if I wanted to."

"I'm sure you could find a way Chichi," Goku jokes back. "You're definitely stubborn enough!" Her husband then has the audacity to laugh at her affronted expression, earning him another smack.

"Ha, ha. Keep this up and I won't let you hold your son," she threatens. She stifles her own laughter at how abruptly he stops his. She gives him a grin before once again adjusting her hold on her newborn and holding him out to his father. Goku eagerly, yet gently, takes ahold of his newest family member.

"Hiya baby!" He coos childishly. She watches with a warm feeling in her heart as her husband rubs his nose against his sons face, pouring all of his affection into the child. Eventually, after giving his son a kiss to the forehead, the father looks back up at her. "He's adorable Chichi! He almost looks exactly like Gohan did when he was born! Have you thought of a name yet?"

Chichi shakes her head sadly. "Sorry Goku, nothing new that Gohan didn't hate when we tried it on him. I was hoping you had thought of something else actually."

The Saiyan father frowns in thought. "No, sorry Cheech. I've been trying but I can't think of anything new. I know we don't want Kakarot since it reminds you of the ruthless Saiyan that I could have been. I also don't want to name him Goku Jr. since I want this kid to have his own legacy. No one should have to live up to unfair expectations just because of a name."

Chichi smiles and nods in complete agreement. Her husband may not appear the intelligent most times, but that's only because of his childish nature. Deep down though, he truly is a wise, thoughtful man. "Well perhaps Gohan can think of something. He was the most excited about his brother after all." She shakes her head in fond memories, thinking of her now oldest son. "Can you believe that I caught him reading parenting books the other day? And not only that, but it was the last one in a series of ten!"

Goku chuckles at that. "That doesn't surprise me at all. That's just how Gohan is. I'm still amazed at how he can feel his ki from anywhere on the planet! I can only do that with Gohan and you! He already has a special bond with his brother."

"How is Gohan doing, by the way," Chichi asks. She remembers her son. While he was extremely happy and excited that his brother was coming, he was also really nervous once they got here. His mood immediately switched on a dime akin to a light switch. She was still getting over the fact that he actually learned instant transmission against her wishes before she noticed her son's apprehensive switch in attitude.

She knows it's not a good sign when her husband looks back down at his son and frowns before sighing. "He was still the same way when Bulma came to get me. Even after telling that he wasn't going to be in trouble for learning instant transmission he still was nervous. I think he was trying to hold himself back from running away again…"

The mother sighs. "I really hope that he doesn't think that he's too dangerous to be around his brother still…" She sighs again. She's heartbroken that her son could even think something like that, especially since its obvious that Gohan loves his brother more than life itself.

She's startled out of her inner musing by her husband handing her their son back. He then sits down in the visitor's chair. Her husband surprises her further by putting his head in his hands, as if ashamed of something. He speaks again before she can question him. "I'm sorry Chichi, its all my fault. I've been pushing him while training, but he's not making any progress. He wouldn't feel this way if this training was going better."

Chichi looks at her husband wide eyed before giving him one of her signature glares. "Goku Son knock it off!" she shouts at him. He jumps at the volume that she shouted, as the room is really quiet. "I don't want to hear you say that ever again! It's not your fault he feels that way! It's no one's fault! It's just is taking longer than we'd like to figure this out!" She softens her voice upon realizing that she has her husbands attention. Thankfully, her son is still sleeping soundly. "Goku, please don't blame yourself for this. You told me before that as far as your transformations, Gohan is in uncharted territory. How long did it take you to figure out your transformation the first time you did it after Namek?"

Her husband sighs again. "Almost a year before I could really control myself well."

"Exactly," she states. "Gohan's doing the same thing you had to do: trying to figure out a brand new transformation. And since he's only a child and its another level above _that_ , it may take him even longer. Remember it's only been nine months Goku. Give Gohan some time. I know it's hard sometimes to realize he's only a kid, especially with everything he's been through, but he is still only eleven-years-old. It should be expected that he has some bumps in the road. That doesn't mean it's your fault every time something doesn't go right."

Goku looks at his wife in awe. She figures he's probably stunned that she has this much insight into the concepts of his training. She may not be a Saiyan, but she is a martial arts master in her own right. Not to mention Goku tells her all about everything that goes on with his training to begin with, so it shouldn't be that surprising that she has so much knowledge about these issues. Goku then gives her a sweet smile.

"You're absolutely right Chichi!" He walks back over to her bed, sits down beside her, and gives her a long kiss. While not expecting that, she eagerly returns her husbands affection. "Thank you Chichi," he continues once they break apart. "You always know what to say. I'm so lucky to have you! I love you."

"I love you too Goku," she responds. She goes in for another kiss, glad she could ease her husband's guilt for the moment at least.

Their moment is interrupted by a sudden movement from the bundle in her arms. The baby now appears to be fully awake and is now grinning as wide as his little face will let him. He appears to be extremely happy about something. This confuses the mother as the tiny boy is reaching his short arms towards the hospital room door, softly grunting in the effort that he's using to reach in that direction. She looks at her husband and he appears to be just as startled as her.

A soft knock echoes through the room, drawing their attention to the door. After another acknowledgement, Bulma once again appears in the doorway, followed by a very apprehensive looking Gohan. Chichi frowns for a moment at how nervous her oldest son looks, but is quickly drawn out of her line of thinking by the sound of baby laugher and increased movement from the bundle in her arms. She follows her infant's gaze and is amazed to see the tiny child reaching and yearning towards Gohan, as if desperate to get to the demi-Saiyan.

Chichi then smiles a wide smile, on the verge of tears. This is the first time she's heard her infant son giggle, and it happened the moment he caught sight of his big brother. This only adds prudence to the theory that the two brothers already have an insanely strong bond. She realizes now that her newest son was reacting to Gohan on the other side of the doorway before he even came into the room, as if he could sense him. This totally unprecedented territory for everyone involved.

For his part, Gohan appears to he doing his own fish impression, as if amazed by the sight of his hour-old brother giggling and reaching out for him. Chichi assumes that he's probably stunned that the infant is reacting so strongly to his presence. Eventually, she holds her youngest son out towards her eldest. "Here Gohan! Come meet your baby brother!" She giggles a little before continuing. "He seems to really want to meet you!"

Her son can only nod numbly before carefully reaching out and taking his baby brother. Chichi holds her breath as the newborn immediately snuggles against Gohan's chest, who still looks as if in awe of the child. Slowly, a small smile appears on her oldest child's face, which continues to stretch until it's a full-fledged Son trademark grin. This illicits even more giggles from the infant, and the older demi-Saiyan can't help but let out a few chuckles of his own before leaning down and planting a kiss on his brother's forehead.

"Hello Little Brother," the child mutters. Chichi turns away for a moment to shed a few tears. That picture is so amazingly sweet that she couldn't help it. After all that Gohan has been through and all of his fears about himself around his baby brother, to see the unimaginable amount of love that he's displaying for his brother in this moment is too much for her heart to take. It is truly a wondrous sight to behold.

"Hey Mom," Gohan addresses her, making her turn back to her sons. "Do you have a name for the little guy? He is absolutely perfect in every way that I want know what to call this amazing life in my arms."

She giggles at that, looking over at Goku before gazing back at her son. "Well Gohan, we actually thought that you might have a name for him. Your father and I couldn't come up with anything worthwhile."

Gohan stares back, eyes the size of dinner plates. "Are you serious?! I get to name him?!" The hour-old chibi giggles even more, looking up at his brother's expression.

Chichi giggles even more herself at that. She can't help it! Both of her sons are so cute right now! "Yes son, I'm completely serious. Your father and I can't come up with any good names. Besides, he seems to love you the most, so it's only fitting that you get to name him."

Gohan, still wide-eyed, looks back down at his infant brother before giving the child a tender smile. "Goten," he states. He nods, sure of himself. "Your name is Goten, baby brother."

Chichi almost cries again at the continuous giggles from her infant son. It only took Gohan five seconds to come up with the perfect name. How fitting.

"Wow Gohan, that's impressive!" She hears her husband state. She has to agree with him. "It took your mom and I a whole month to come up with your name, and that was really only on accident! How did you come up with a name so easily?"

She sees Gohan chuckle at his father's statement, yet his eyes never leave his brother. To Chichi, he seems to be completely enthralled with the tiny life in his arms. From the looks of Goten, the feeling is mutual. Eventually though, the elder demi-Saiyan looks up from his brother towards his father. "Well, to tell you the truth, the name just came to me almost instantly. I was just thinking that this little guy felt like Heaven when I first felt his ki. That feeling only got stronger when I started holding him, so I figured I'd use 'Heaven' as his name."

Chichi can't help it; she instantly bursts into tears after that explanation. She quickly catches herself and calms down, but she can tell that she startles both her husband and eldest son at her actions. That was just the perfect explanation and thought process to cap off this absolutely perfect day. "I'm sorry Gohan, but that was just so beautiful! Maybe it's the postpartum hormones, but I just couldn't help myself there! You are truly amazing, son, and I just love you so much!"

She giggles a little through her tears at Gohan's blush. The fact that he's holding his smiling infant brother who is looking at him with the greatest adoration just adds to the adorable appearance of her eldest son. "Oh honey, no need to be embarrassed at that! It's the truth. Now give me Goten so I can kiss him goodnight for the time being. I'm still exhausted from bringing him into this world and I need my rest. Don't worry," she adds at seeing Gohan's crestfallen face at having to give up his brother, "I'll give him back right away. I know how much you want to be with him right now."

She internally laughs at her son. Of course she always thinks her eldest son is as cute as a button, but she doesn't know if she's ever seen him as adorable as he is right now. And that's saying something! Eventually, Gohan conceded his brother back to her. Much to Chichi's amusement, Goten frowns a little at the lack of contact with his brother before gazing up at her. He then smiles cutely which makes Chichi giggle yet again.

"Goodnight, sweet Goten. I'm gonna sleep for now but I'll see you again soon!" She quickly plants a kiss on Goten's forehead before handing him back to Gohan. As she closes her eyes, she hears her elder son cooing at his baby brother while the younger soaks up the attention greedily. The proud mother sighs contently before drifting off to sleep to the sounds of her family's love. While on the verge of unconsciousness, she is able to catch parts of a quiet conversation between her son and husband.

"—feel that, Dad?"

"Yeah, all … familiar… brought guests this time…"

* * *

 **1\. Daidaiiro literally translates to the color orange. I figured that it would be hilarious to have the mayor of Orange Star City be named "Mayor Orange."**


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